18/12/2018

INFORMATION CARD (POSTCARD SIZED)

The LOWRY presents an interactive new exhibition of

Britain’s favourite animation.

DUCKULA

Autographed on the front by:

BRIAN COSGROVE

And

MARK HALL

Cosgrove and Hall were co-founders of the animation studio COSGROVE HALL FILMS (COSGROVE HALL PRODUCTIONS). They are perhaps best known for their creation ‘Danger Mouse’, but they also created ‘Count Duckula’ who is depicted here on this card.

This card also has a special hand stamp which has been applied to two Machin Queen head definitive stamps (a 1p and a 26p). This is dated 18^th December 2001 and it is a cartoon related special hand stamp, which is appropriate to its use on this card.     

PHOTOGRAPH

Brian Cosgrove (right) and Mark Hall (left)

Depicted with their characters Danger Mouse and Count Duckula

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18/12/2018

“YOU CANNOT BE HANGED BEFORE YOU ARE CAUGHT” –

SNEERED EPPELEIN VON GAILINGEN FAMOUS KNIGHT

AND NOTORIOUS ROBBER, AT THE COUNCIL IN NUREMBERG

Published by

VERLAG FRITZ LAUTERBACH, ZOPPOTER STRABE 31, 90766 FURTH

Ref: FARB-KARTE 281

This is one of the postcards I bought in Nuremberg on my very recent visit. It depicts an artistic representation of the escape of Eppelein von Gailingen who was to be hanged in 1372. He asked to ride his own horse one last time. Once he was on his horse, he sprang away on it over the walls and escaped. He stayed free for nine years and was caught and placed back in the hands of the council and was executed for his robberies.

A great postcard with an interesting historical story which I was not aware of before visiting the town and buying this postcard.

18/12/2018

Count Down to Christmas

The 10th of December has passed, and Jo has put our Christmas decorations up, so I decided to start my Christmas Postcard countdown – I shall depict at least one ‘Xmas’ themed postcard each day until we reach Christmas Day itself.

DAY NINE

WISHING YOU MUCH LUCK

THIS XMAS

I DON’T KNOW WHETHER YOU ARE HAVING A BIRD OR NOT, BUT I HOPE

YOU’RE LUCKY LIKE THIS CHAP!

Published by

BAMFORTH & CO., LTD PUBLISHERS

(HOLMFIRTH, ENGLAND AND NEW YORK)

Ref: “XMAS COMICS” SERIES No. 108

This is a nice early cat themed comic postcard from this famous postcard publisher.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS

SHAPED ‘RED LONDON BUS’ POSTCARD

Published by

Paperchase

This is another new postcard which was found this year recently in a paperchase shop. I love shaped postcard’s, so it was nice to find a Christmas related one.

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No.5 WOUWERMAN

1619 – 1668

HET WITTE PAARD

LE CHEVAL BLANC

Published by

N. V. GESTEL & Zn. EINDHOVEN

What does this painting of a young man with his white horse have to do with Christmas and the winter season? Absolutely nothing that I can see, until you turn this card over…

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

As you can see here someone has overprinted the reverse side of this painting postcard with a block of very-pretty, red decorative script text, which reads:

CHRISTMAS TIME

HAS COME AGAIN

AND WITH IT

THOUGHTS OF CHEER

SO WE SAY A

MERRY ONE AND A

PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

This is clearly your Christmas connection, and I think the test is great, but I still do not know why it was placed on this particular-painting postcard

17/12/2018

HUGS AND KISSES

FOR FREE

OFFERS GOOD WHILE SUPPLIES LAST

Unknown Publisher – Plain Backed

I found this interesting art card on a stall within the Christmas Market at Nuremberg (yes, it is in English, go figure!). I thought it was interesting design and the best one amongst a number of plain backed art cards being sold on what was basically a ‘Stationery’ stand, but one with some lovely paper-based items on it.

17/12/2018

GRUS AUS NURNBERG

‘Greetings From Nuremberg’

NURNBERG VOM HALLERTHOR

‘Nuremberg from Haller Gate’

Published by

HERMARN MARTIN, KUNSTVERLAG, NURNBERG 1899

Ref: 101 C.

I found this lovely artwork postcard of Nuremberg in a box of old postcards on the counter in the shop of the German History Museum (GERMANISCHES NATIONALMUSEUM). Finding this box was a nice chance to buy some old postcards of the place I was visiting. I could not resist this lovely one.

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17/12/2018

CANARIAS

Novelty Stitched Clothing on Postcard

Published by

N. E. R. Y. P. – MADRID – (SPAIN)

Ref: No. 61

The country of Spain is renowned for these stitched clothing postcards which have been around for decades. This one here is from the Spanish Canary Islands and I believe this is a version of the islands national costume. This is an older issue and one slightly smaller than the normal postcard issue, but it is a delightful one.

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17/12/2018

FROM GHOULIES AND GHOSTIES

AND LONG-LEGGETY BEASTIES

AND ALL THINGS THAT GO BUMP

IN THE NIGHT –

GOOD LORD DELIVER US!

Design by

RICK GEARY

Published by

DEBRA MEISTER

“The original art for this card was created by Rick Geary in 2010. It was commissioned by Debra Meister for reproduction in her book: A Litany… Cornish or otherwise”

(Text from reverse side of Postcard)

Postcard Limited to an edition of 25

Because I write for a postcard magazine (Picture Postcard Monthly) I often receive items through the post from companies, publishers and individuals who want me to receive their cards. This is one of the most exclusive postcards I have received. It was Debra Meister herself who very kindly sent me a copy of this card she had had produced. Only 25 copies of this card were made, and I suspect it may be the rarest of Rick Geary postcards out there, so as a huge Geary addict, I am delighted to be one of the few who owns a copy.

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17/12/2018

Count Down to Christmas

The 10th of December has passed, and Jo has put our Christmas decorations up, so I decided to start my Christmas Postcard countdown – I shall depict at least one ‘Xmas’ themed postcard each day until we reach Christmas Day itself.

DAY EIGHT

(Something Different Today)

NUREMBERG

CHRISTMAS MARKET 2018

“CHRISTKINDLESMARKT”

I recently spent four days in Nuremberg, Germany to visit their renowned ‘Christmas Market’. At the market there is a small wooden hut which acts as a special Christmas Market post office from where you can buy and post cards and envelopes which all receive an exclusive ‘CHRISTKINDLESMARKET 2018’ special hand stamp. I had to send myself some postcards from this hut and get the hand stamp. So, here are my cards and all the different stuff I managed to obtain:

NURBERG

(NUREMBERG)

SCHONE GRUBE AUS NURNBERG

Artwork by

GUSTAV LUTTGENS

Published by:

SCHONING VERLAG – AN DER HULSHORST

I thought this was a nice image of old Nuremberg with the cities castle in the background. This card would have made it into my collection just on its own merit.

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If you asked for a stamp for postage outside of Germany, as I needed to do, then this was the stamp that the staff in the hut supplied. I was lucky here as I got a top corner example and I like these as often the margin area has additional bits of pieces which are interesting to stamp collectors.

The stamp has been cancelled with the special exclusive hand stamp:

DEUTSCHE POST

NURNBERG

ERLEBNIS BRIEFMARKEN

30. NOVEMBER

24 DECEMBER

NURNBERG

30.11.2018

CHRISTKINDLESMARKT

AUF DEM NURNBERGER CHRISTKINDLESMARKT

BERLINE MIT 2 COUPES, POSTKUTSCHE UM 1874

(At the Nuremberg Christmas Market)

Published by the

MUSEUM FUR KOMMUNIKATION, NURNBERG

This wonderful old post carriage is normally in the museum, but during the Christmas Market period the carriage is located close to the above-mentioned post office hut from which you can buy tickets for a ride around Nuremberg inside the coach.

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Although normally just the one type of stamp was offered to customers, if you asked, they also had this stamp available. I did ask and got this nice bottom right corner example. This has also been cancelled with the special CHRISTKINDLESMARKT hand stamp. Another nice personal souvenir of my visit.

NURNBERGER

CHRISTKINDLESMARKT

BLIK UBER DEN CHRISTKINDLESMARKT ZUR FRAUENKIRCHE

Published by

SCHONING GMBH & CO. KG

This church is at the back of the main Christmas Market square and you can see the red and white stripped roofs of the Christmas Market stalls at the bottom of this photograph. This was a lovely church and I took the opportunity to look inside whilst I was here.

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Another example of the special CHRISTKINDLESMARKT hand stamp

NURNBERGER

CHRISTKINDLESMARKT

Published by:

SCHONING VERLAG – AN DER HULSHORST

A nice aerial view looking down across the top of the Christmas Market stalls. I liked this postcard image and I knew it would make a great card to receive the special hand stamp.

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This one received a particularly good example of the special hand stamp. You cannot guarantee that the hand stamp applied will always come out clearly, so, this why I always do a handful of cards whenever I do anything like this on my travels.

NURNBERG IN FRANKEN

MITTELALTERLICHE STADT A. D. PEGNITZ

Published by

SCHONING GMBH & CO. KG

Most of the images here are of Nuremberg when the Christmas Market is not on, but there is one photograph, second down on right which does show the market. This is a postcard which could be sold at anytime during the year.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Speaking with the staff at any postal stand, stall, counter or shop can always be useful, and can lead to something different. I spoke with the manager of the postal hut here and she asked if I was a collector as she had noticed that all my cards were addressed to the same person and address. Having been told that I was very much a collector and that all the cards were addressed to me the nice lady asked if I also wanted the other hand stamp that they had. The answer to this was simple, yes. This was a special handstamp which had to be specifically requested and on my four visits to the hut I did not see any other cards cancelled with this one. This superb special hand stamp features an image of the old postal carriage (the one which appears on one of the above postcards. I was really pleased, and lucky (although my conversation with staff did obviously help, which is why I recommend doing this) to have obtained this additional special hand stamp.

NURNBERGER

CHRISTKINDLESMARKT

Published by:

SCHONING GMBH & CO. KG

This was one of the many special Christmas Market postcards which were available, but this was one which I really liked.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

One of the things which was also being sold at the hut was a special stamp booklet which contained four different self-adhesive Christmas themed stamp. I liked the look of these so bought one of the booklets and used two stamps each on two postcards which I posted to myself. As these were posted from the hut, they also received the special ‘Nurnberg Christkindlesmarkt’ hand stamp, although because the stamps are on thicker paper the cancel does not apply quite so well on these.

NURNBERGER

CHRISTKINDLESMARKT

Published by:

SCHONING VERLAG – AN DER HULSHORST

Another great Christmas Market themed postcard

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This card received the other two self-adhesive stamps from the four-stamp booklet, but these two were my favourite ones, a wrapped parcel and Santa Claus himself. As you can see, they have again been cancelled with the special Nurnberg Christkindlesmarkt hand stamp.

NON-POSTCARD ITEM

SPECIAL ‘NURNBERG CHRISTKINDLESMARKT’ HAND STAMP COVER

The hut also sold this special cover. I know its not a postcard, but I like this sort of thing and they sit nicely beside my postcards in my collection, so I bought one. These are also great souvenirs of a visit here.

16/12/2018

JOHN LENNON

NEW YORK CITY 1974

Photograph by

BOB GRUEN

Published by

FOTOFOLIO

This lovely postcard arrived during the week from my friend Frank Roche in America. On its own it is a very nice postcard with a great image of the ex-Beatle John Lennon, but the reverse has some additions which lift this postcard up into a much higher pane of collectability.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This postcard has the four John Lennon US postage stamps that were issued this year applied. These have been cancelled with the special first day of issue JOHN LENNON autograph special hand stamp dated 7^th September 2018. It has taken some time to make its way to me which probably indicates that this was an extremely popular stamp issue and the items requiring this special first day of issue hand stamp had built up and it took the postal organisation some time to catch up with all the mail. The cancel and the stamps make this a very special item. So, many thanks to Frank for adding something so unique to me collection.   

16/12/2018

ON BOARD THE

“GOLDEN HIND”

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

Published by

J. & T. MAXWELL LTD (Southend-on-Sea)

This is a postcard which would little to no interest to anyone living outside of my home town, unless they lived here when they were younger. The ‘Golden Hind’ mentioned here was a reproduction of the ship which was located on the seafront here at Southend. I loved it as a kid and especially the waxwork diorama’s on board the ship, which you could pay to enter and walk around. The ship has now long gone having been dismantled a few years ago and an amusement arcade built over the area where it was located. So, when I recently saw this great postcard, I had to have it, and it was cheap to, to me anyway.

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16/12/2018

THANK YOU FOR MINDING MY CAT

“THE ARISTOCRAT”

Published by

J. ARTHUR DIXON

Ref: Pets 131

This postcard just goes to show that they really did produce postcards for just about every need. So, here we have a postcard designed to be sent (as they were back then, today I suspect they would be photographed with a mobile camera and then sent as a message) to someone who was looking after the sender’s pet cat whilst they were away, I suspect sent most often whilst on holiday.

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I do like the fact that this postcard was used exactly for the reason it was designed for. It has a 5 ½ p purple Queens Machin head definitive stamp which has been cancelled with a PORTSMOUTH & SOUTHSEA slogan postmark dated 16^th August 1975. The slogan was for ‘NAVY DAYS PORTSMOUTH – AUGUST 1975’. So, this card also has a nice slogan cancel as well.

16/12/2018

Count Down to Christmas

The 10th of December has passed, and Jo has put our Christmas decorations up, so I decided to start my Christmas Postcard countdown – I shall depict at least one ‘Xmas’ themed postcard each day until we reach Christmas Day itself.

DAY SEVEN

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU

Published by

P. M. & Co. LONDON

Ref: SERIES 1923

(Printed in Hungary)

This is a nice simple design, one which was posted out in 1903. The Christmas connection is in the red coloured text across the top of this design.

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This has a nice GLASGOW 3 double bar, double circle cancellation dated 23^rd December 1903. The postcard was addressed to Manchester and was clearly sent out as a Christmas greetings card.

UNTITLED

(PENGUINS – ONE WEARING A XMAS HAT)

By

KATY WELSH

Published by

STUDIO DESIGN (PAPER PLANES)

Ref: XMAPAP 005

This is another great new design currently being sold in branches of ‘paperchase’. It may be simple, but it is very eye-catching and stands out on the spinners I have seen it on.

16/12/2018

WARNER BROS, STUDIO TOUR

HARRY POTTER

(London)

Personal Visit On

12^th December 2018

LARGE SHAPED HARRY POTTER

CHARACTER POSTCARDS

On my visit this week to this superb exhibition and attraction, my third time, although it has been some years since my last one, I found this set, or series of small shaped postcards. These were £1.50 each, but as a collector of Harry Potter postcards I had to have a complete set. Assuming, that they were not out of any characters, I am going to say that this is the complete range:

PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

I am only going to show you the reverse side of this one shaped postcard as the basic surmise is the same across the cards with the obvious exceptions that the shape of the person depicted cuts into and around the various aspects of the reverse side layout differently.

HARRY POTTER

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

HEDWIG

HARRY POTTER’S PET OWL

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

HERMIONE GRANGER

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

Hermione was quite a wide card, because of her hair, so she had to be tilted to be scanned

RON WEASLEY

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

DRACO MALFOY

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

LUNA LOVEGOOD

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

DOBBY THE HOUSE ELF

(I assume this is Dobby as I see no reason to have depicted another house elf say like Kreacher)

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

PROFESSOR SNAPE

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

SIRIUS BLACK

Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

HAGRID

 Official Attraction Postcard

Small Shaped Postcard

No Reference Number or Postcard title

15/12/2018

SOUVENIR D’ YPRES

Published by

ERN. THILL. BRUXELLES, BROMURITE

(NELS BROMURITE)

Ref: No. 22

A nice early souvenir postcard for the famous WWI town of Ypres in Belgium. One of the structures depicted is the Menin Gate which was unveiled in 1927, so this postcard postdates that year, but I think it might pre-date WWII. I think this would have made a great souvenir for anyone visiting here at the time it was available.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Yes, this lovely postcard cost me just 10p, a real bargain I thought.  

15/12/2018

BLIMEY!

By

FITZPATRICK

Published by

BAMFORTH & CO., LTD

Ref: “COMIC” SERIES No 2400

I think a bare male bottom is allowed, so I have placed this one here rather than in my ‘Censored’ section, and I think this is a mildly naughty postcard and more-funny than offensive in any way.

15/12/2018

Count Down to Christmas

The 10th of December has passed, and Jo has put our Christmas decorations up, so I decided to start my Christmas Postcard countdown – I shall depict at least one ‘Xmas’ themed postcard each day until we reach Christmas Day itself.

DAY SIX

WISHING YOU A YEAR OF GOOD READING!

(FATHER CHRISTMAS)

By

RICK GEARY

Private Publication by

Rick Geary

I have always loved Rick’s work and as stated before on this webpage I have a very large collection of his postcards. This one is a great ‘Christmas’ themed one.

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RUSSIAN

POSTAL STATIONERY POST CARD

FATHER CHRISTMAS ISSUE

This is another Russian issue, this time a postal stationery post card with a printed stamp on the reverse side. I know next to nothing about these Russian cards in my collection, but I do still love picking them up.