22/01/2018

 

ELSA

DISNEY FROZEN

Published and Distributed

By

THE POSTCARD FACTORY

Ref: PC57-FZ-GEN 0G5

 

Since the release of ‘Frozen’, and its worldwide popularity, there has been this range of postcards issued to be sold outside the Main Disney theme parks, in the numerous gift shops which abound in the hotel and motel areas. But, although this a range of designs which were commissioned for release in a sort of series, it is amazing how attractive these designs are. They certainly did not stint on these, they may have simple concepts but, the artwork is still extremely professional.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

All the postcards relating to ‘FROZEN’ in this series have the same reverse layout

(obviously just with the different Reference code bottom right)

 

IT’S MAGICAL IN FLORIDA

DISNEY FROZEN

Published and Distributed

By

THE POSTCARD FACTORY

Ref: PC57-FZ-FL 0G3

 

This design features both Elsa and Anna from the animated film (released in 2013 – it didn’t take long to conquer the world!). This one would make a nice souvenir of a Florida holiday as it mentions the state in the front text.

 

LETTING THINGS GO IN

FLORIDA

DISNEY FROZEN

Published and Distributed

By

THE POSTCARD FACTORY

Ref: PC57-FZ-FL 0G4

 

This is my favourite of the four postcards depicted and it shows Elsa and the comedic snowman Olaf. This is slightly different in format to the other two as its edges are more whimsical and less straight edged than the previous cards, it is of course also vertical in format. All, of these cards should not cost more than $1.25 in Florida, but on eBay they sell anywhere from £2 to £3.50 each such is the popularity of the characters and the film.

 

BRING ON THE SUNSHINE

Published and Distributed

By

THE POSTCARD FACTORY

Ref: PC57-FZ-GEN 0G6

 

Here you get Elsa and Anna along with Olaf, to make a more complete cast combination (I have not seen the human male characters or the reindeer on these cards, yet). This one gives the above card a run for its money in my favourite of the group listing.    

 

21/01/2018

TRIP 2017

DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION

By

Renee Melia

Published by

AVANTCARD AUSTRALIA

Ref: #20604

Issued 2016

(yes, I know, it is titled as Trip 2017!)

 

This is another of this company’s artist design issues. You got a wide range of different artistic styles amongst the published artist postcards. This design very much reminds me of the art styles of the 1960’s.  

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

I like the further use of colour here

 

21/01/2018

GREETINGS FROM PERCY

AT JAMAICA INN

PERCY THE PARROT

Printed by

BERIC TEMPEST

For

JAMAICA INN & MUSEUMS

(Original retail price 20p)

“Percy is a macaw who has lived at Jamaica Inn for nearly 50 years. Percy has always been a favourite with visitors and she loves to talk, but beware, some of her language is as colourful as she is!”

(Text from reverse side of postcard)

 

Last year my eldest son, James, and his family went to Cornwall for their holiday. Whilst there they picked up some interesting postcards for me which I got as an excellent Christmas present. Some of the other cards will appear over the coming days and weeks, but I thought I would start off with this nice example of a card which is a superb tourist souvenir. This one would also have appealed to the younger me when I only bought animal and wildlife themed postcards.

 

21/01/2018

BLUE PETER

PETER PURVES

Official BBC Blue Peter Presenter postcard

 

Last weeks issue of the RADIO TIMES magazine came with a series of different covers, all based on ‘The 50 Greatest Children’s TV Show’s’. I have my Radio Times on standing order so could not choose which cover I wanted but had to wait and see which one I received. Thankfully I received the one with the main emphasis on the programme ‘Blue Peter’, featuring an image of the presenter Valerie Singleton, the one I would have chosen for myself. It reminded me of my youth as I was a regular viewer at the time Valerie Singleton was presenting the show in what I still believe was the perfect line up: Valerie Singleton, John Noakes and Peter Purves. I once had breakfast in the same hotel restaurant as Peter Purves, we were at adjoining tables. I then saw him again later that same day at a Doctor Who convention, which I was attending and at which he was signing. I was reminded of this by both the Radio Times and through recently receiving this Peter Purves Blue Peter presenter card. This one is a bit tatty around the edges but, it is also unusual because it is not signed. The programme team prided themselves on sending out signed cards to those who wrote in and/or attended events. So, unsigned cards are more-scarce than signed ones, and you don’t often come across them. Even though this card is not in the best condition I still decided to keep it. Because, it was unsigned.

I have noticed over the past year or so that Blue Peter presenter cards have been popular on eBay and have raised some reasonable prices as well. This is especially the case with the earlier presenters, those from the 1970’s being very popular.

 

 

PHOTOGRAPH

RADIO TIMES MAGAZINE

13TH – 19TH January 2018

 

This is cover that caused me to place the above postcard on the webpage

 

20/01/2018

KATE & WILLS (POSTCARD)

By

SABI KOZ

Assumed to be published by the artist – no printer details shown

(Retail Price £2)

 

These Sabi Koz postcards are plain backed, but do have an applied sticker which has the title, artist and cost printed on it. These are £2 each and that is a bit expensive for a retail outlet price, but they are great royalty themed cards. This one is clearly taken from their wedding day.

 

 

FEEL THE THRILL

BREAK THE RULES

PRINCE GEORGE – WHITE (POSTCARD)

By

SABI KOZ

Assumed to be published by the artist – no printer details shown

(Retail Price £2)

 

I liked this amusing design as it is original and slightly ‘quirky’. It is not a common design but can be found in one or two ‘Specialist Arty’ shops in London. I bought my copy in a shop in the famous London location of Carnaby Street. I think these are worth £2, but some might consider this too much, but they would be denying themselves cards which, I believe, will be really-collectible in the future, especially if young George becomes king at ‘anytime’ in the future.

 

PRINCESS DI (POSTCARD)

By

SABI KOZ

Assumed to be published by the artist – no printer details shown

(Retail Price £2)

 

I find it fascinating that twenty years after her death I can still find new postcards which depict Princess Diana. This one is clearly an art piece, but I think it is a cracker and in some ways appropriate in a ‘Family Tree’ sort of way if you consider the first card above depicts her son whilst the second depicts her grandson. As these were the only three royalty cards by this artist I found I did find this small fact interesting. I think this is the least interesting of the three cards, but staff in the shop seemed to think it was the best-selling design!

 

20/01/2018

CENTER PARCS

WOBURN FOREST

 

Last weekend I again visited the Center Parcs holiday site at Woburn Forest. This was the families second outing to here, the last, and our first, visit was in 2017. I obtained some postcards last time which appeared on the website – see under ‘April 2017 Blog 5’ tab and the date 30/04/2017 for previous images and posting. On this recent visit I picked up a further five postcards which I did not buy last time, as I was looking at the wildlife ones then.

 

WOBURN FOREST

Two storey Lodge

Ref: WO 005

 

We stayed in a single level bungalow styled lodge towards the back of the park. These two floor lodges are located close to the swimming pool, but everyone passes them, and I think it must get a bit noisy. So, we prefer the more out of the way lodges. As we had not stayed in one of the ones which are like hat depicted here I had not considered buying this postcard, but as I had walked past them many times on our previous visit (this time we walked in the opposite direction) I decided to grab a copy this time.

 

WOBURN FOREST

Entrance to the Swimming Pool building

Ref: WO 004

 

We used the swimming pool six times during our long weekend stay, so I suppose this card did deserve depiction here. The card may not be eye grabbing but it does bring back memories of all the bruises and bumps I obtained by travelling down the water rapids at the back of the pool - great fun, but often painful as well.

 

WOBURN FOREST

Duck with chicks

Ref: GN 019

 

The previous two cards have a WO reference number which I assume means they are Woburn Forest depictions, which agrees with my knowledge of this particular ‘Center Parcs’. So, the ones with a GN reference number must be from another location or are GN or General (as in images which can be sold at any of the Parcs).

This card here appears to be one of two wildlife ones which I either missed last year or have appeared here since then (part of me suspects the former).

 

WOBURN FOREST

Swan

Ref: GN 004

 

This swan card fits nicely into my wildlife collection, and it is also a very atmospheric photograph which catches nicely the early mornings around the lakes which are placed within these parcs.

 

WOBURN FOREST

The Rapids outside the swimming pool

Ref: GN 007

 

Although very similar to the rapids located at the Woburn Forest Center Parcs this image is of another one of these located at another of the parcs (thus it does not have the WO reference). The rapids are heated, and you can see in this image the steam coming off the water. These need to be heated as it was cold at our one last weekend as these are outside in the open air, and the air was cold!

 

So, that finishes my Center Parcs second lot of postcard postings. Sadly, I suspect it will be some time before we return as we have a number of other holidays either booked or lined up for this and next year, but beyond that it is possible we will return  

 

20/01/2018

STAMPEX POSTCARD SIZE ADVERT FLYER

 

14TH – 17TH FEBRUARY 2018

 

My latest issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly came with the latest STAMPEX advert flyer. I always depict these here on the webpage to give you all advance-notice of this excellent four-day event held in London at the Business and Design centre, Islington.

This year I will be spending all four days at the event and as always I will be placing images on the facebook page and later posting images of the cards I pick up on the webpage.    

 

19/01/2018

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS

CHIPWRECKED

Novelty ‘JIGSAW’ Card

Published for

20TH CENTURAY FOX – REGENCY

(Made in China)

 

I have been in Colchester, Essex today and have been doing a trawl of the charity shops, which can be useful for a prolific book reader like me. I also, very rarely these day, occasionally find postcard or card related items in some of these shops. Today I was looking in the ‘British Red Cross’ charity shop when I found this ‘Jigsaw’ postcard sized card in the children’s section. Now, I have previously mentioned that I am fond of novelty card items, so I thought I would buy this one. I was even more certain I would when I found it was priced at just 25p, a bargain.

The film ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks – Chipwrecked’ was released in 2011, so, as this is almost certainly a promotional item, probably free at the time, I can assume this card is from this same year. Finding this card here is another good example of how it is always worth while checking every location for postcards, you may have many negative result’s, but the positive ones will number more as well.

 

19/01/2018

PETER WYNGARDE ….. RIP

Cyril Louis Goldbert (Disputed)

23rd August 1927 (although the birth date is in dispute and not confirmed) – 15th January 2018

British actor almost certainly best known for his appearances in the television series DEPARTMENT S (1969 – 1970) and JASON KING (1971 – 1972), in the later of which he played the titular character. In these programmes his character wore very flamboyant cloths, which were so iconic to the period.  

 

POSTCARD

PETER WYNGARDE aka JASON KING

Published by

KLASIK KARDS

Ref: 1575

 

KLASIK KARDS published a wide range of postcards during the 1990’s which depicted characters from iconic television programmes from the late 1960’s and early to late 1970’s. This one here is typical of their output. Many of their postcards have images which related to programmes which had not appeared on postcard before, or images which had not appeared on postcard previously. Their postcards are now highly sought and can cost several pounds each on eBay when they crop up. As television is my main theme I had (and still do when I find ones I was unaware of) always picked these up when I came across them. I have quite a good collection of their cards.

 

 

18/01/2018

GERMAN POSTAL STATIONERY

POST CARD

MOURNING CARD ISSUED FOR THE DEATH OF

PRESIDENT VON HINDENBURG

(Black boarder on previous issue Postal Stationery Card Higgins & Gage Ref 223)

6 Pfg on Cream Card

Higgins & Gage, World Postal Stationery Catalog

Section 7

Germany - Page 16

Reference No: 234 a

Issued 1934

 

Whilst I am playing with my new catalogues I thought I would also look up the details behind the issue of this postal stationery Card. To be fair, with the black boarder, I had already made some assumptions around this issue and believed it was a ‘Mourning’ issue, and therefore one for the only really-important death of this period – President Von Hindenburg (it is always nice to be right occasionally).

 

 

MOURNING CARD ISSUED FOR THE DEATH OF

PRESIDENT VON HINDENBURG

 

This is a postal used copy of the above postal stationery post card issued for the death of President von Hindenburg. This one has the pre-printed grey green Hindenburg postage stamp cancelled with a SOLINGEN circular bridged date stamp dated 26th November 1934. President von Hindenburg had passed away on the 2nd August 1934.

I am not sure what the applied black boxed cachet like hand stamp is that has been struck to the front of the card bottom left. It is dated for the date after the cancel which has been struck to the stamp. I wonder if it is a delivery cachet and applies to attempts to deliver the card or sections it has passed through. I know that ‘ABTLG’, which heads some of the columns, means ‘Dept’, and ‘GESEHEN’ means ‘Seen’. So, I may be correct here and this is an official postal cachet.

 

 

18/01/2018

GERMAN POSTAL STATIONERY

POST CARD

GERMAN AIR FORCE HEADQUARTERS IN BRUSSELS

For use by Foreign Employees

6 Pfg overprinted on 15 Pfg

Claret printing on Buff Card

Higgins & Gage, World Postal Stationery Catalog

Section 7

Germany - Page 26

Reference No: 308 b

Issued 1943

 

I may have previously mentioned that I was unable to give details about German Postal Stationery Post Cards because I did not have the information. The Higgins & Gage collection that I had been using belongs to one of my Philatelic Societies and I had it out on loan from the club’s library. Unfortunately, it was an incomplete copy and was missing several sections including Germany, Russia and all countries beginning with the letter ‘A’. It also was missing all the 1980’s supplements and updates, so it had its faults. As a result, I have been looking out for a copy of my own, and when I say copy I mean a complete 9 - album set. I managed to track one down in America, eventually, and after a ‘period’ of time, and tax VAT payments it has finally arrived. Thus, I have been able to find out the interesting story behind this card here. Without the new catalogues I would have been unable to find out that it has military connections and was overprinted for exclusive use by Foreign Employees of the German Air Force Headquarters in Brussels.

 

PHOTOGRAPH

 

This is my new set of Higgins & Gage catalogues

 

These are expensive if you can track down a set, but the information contained within them is amazing and essential for any collector of this type of card. If you do fancy a set of these try and find one with the 1980’s update supplementary sheets, as these add a wealth of extra details and information around a further fifteen years of issues as these were issued in 1983.

 

17/01/2018

SEA CADETS

TELL ME MORE

AGED 10 – 18?

Official Promotional Card

 

If you check back to the 06/01/2018 (Tab – ‘January Blogs 2018’) you will see that I posted some Royal Marines Cadets postcards and some Sea Cadets cards, but I forgot at the time that I also had this one. This one was sent through the post so was kept separate from the afore mentioned cards which were sent under a separate envelope cover. So, here is a third different ‘Sea Cadets’ card. It is clearly from the same series as the previous posted cards.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

 

Although not designed as a postcard it can be seen that the addition of a postage stamp and a written address immediately turns this into a postcard, or at the very least, a card that has been posted.

 

17/01/2018

ILLUSTRATION FROM

“THE DANGEROUS JOURNEY”

MOOMIN CHARACTERS

By

Tove Jansson

Published by

PUTINKI OY

Ref: TJ 39 (7020558)

Printed in Finland

 

This is a really- long postcard, which I bought at the Moomin Shop located in Covent Garden, London. The image seems to depict a wide range of the characters that appear in the Moomin stories by Tove Jansson. I like this design an I have found that Moomin themed postcards on eBay are quite expensive, so I am glad I can buy them for a far more reasonable price at this London based shop.

 

17/01/2018

ROYAL MAIL

POSTCARDS

In Original Wrapper – Priced at 15p

 

Now, I do like original sales wrappers, but they can be difficult to source, even modern ones like this one here. The postcards are as simple as can be, but, as the small logo on the reverse side of the sales wrapper states, these are ‘ROYAL MAIL PREFERRED’. At 15p for the pack, and for 15 cards, this seems like a cheap option. If I can find this type of postcard related memorabilia I do love adding it to my collection.   

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE WRAPPER

(Around the plain backed postcards)

This has the ‘ROYAL MAIL PREFERRED’ printed option

 

16/01/2018

LONDON POSTCARD COMPANY

Bookmarks

 

Many postcard publishers often, and understandably, publish and print other non-postcard items as well. I had a close relationship with those who ran the London Postcard Company and as a result I have an extensive collection, near complete, of their postcard output. I also have part of their archive as well which consists of unpublished design artwork, both hand drawn, and computer generated, and some proof items as well (some mock up postcard packs which were never issued are my favourite items – I will dig these out and post these in a future posting). Amongst my collection I also have examples of the book marks which they gave out as promotional items. There is a strong postcard connection here, beside these being printed by a postcard publisher, and this is the fact that all these bookmarks promote postcard series which they issued. I remember the staff telling me that when they were producing their sheets of postcards they noticed that with the sheets they used they ended up with dead space at one end which was not being used and cut away and thrown. They came up with the idea of placing bookmark prints along this dead end of the sheet, thus using this otherwise wasted area. So, these bookmarks only came about because of the postcards the company printed and the size of the printed sheets upon which the cards were printed prior to being cut up. There is also the fact that the bookmarks were used to promote the postcards they issued. The list of available postcards is printed on the reverse side of these bookmarks. As something different I have posted here a small range of the postcards which were made:

 

WWF WRESTLER SERIES

 

1 The Rock

2 Stone Cold Steve Austin

3 Triple H

4 Mankind

5 Chyna

6 Terri Runnels

7 Kane

8 Tazi

9 Chris Jericho

10 Edge

11 Big Boss Man

12 The Godfather

13 Kurt Angle

 

These are spread over three images

<< New image with text >>

 

X-MEN: THE MOVIE

 

A range of bookmarks which promoted the postcards the company released for the 2000 released feature film, the first of the X-Men movies. Wolverine was obviously the stand out character but there are others here who have also appeared in other films since. These are spread over two images.

<< New image with text >>

 

DENNIS THE MENACE & GNASHER

From ‘The Beano Comic’

 

The London Postcard Company issued a very good collection of postcards for these characters and some of the postcard images appear top and bottom on some of these bookmarks. Here I have placed two images which depict a range of these bookmarks

 

THE BEATLES

 

With there being a wide range of related postcards depicting the ‘Fab Four’ issued by The London Postcard Company it was inevitable that there would be bookmarks as well. Here are three of those produced, but there are many more (I have copies hidden away somewhere in another box!)

 

DOCTOR WHO

 

These were printed by The London Postcard Company for another company called ‘Slow Dazzle Worldwide’ for whom they had also printed a set of Doctor Who painting postcards. The faces of the first eight Doctors that appear here are taken from the postcard images. I have a full set of the postcards and will again seek these out from my collection and will post them in the future. Thinking about it I am also sure I have an uncut sheet of the postcards as well. I know where that is so will get that out in the future as well.

 

BRUCE LEE

 

Here are just two of the many Bruce Lee bookmarks which were produced

 

THE AVENGERS

&

THE NEW AVENGERS

 

These fit nicely into my television collection as well and as a kid I was a huge fan of the series ‘The New Avengers’ and through that I became a fan of the original ‘The Avengers’ many series as well.

 

 

VARIOUS

 

Spread over this image is a range of bookmarks covering various postcard issues which the company released:

40 Years of the ‘Carry On’ films x 2

Morecambe & Wise

The Professionals (this is an uncommon bookmark)

The postcard series for the television series ‘The Professionals’ was one of the first issues for the company and trying to get a full set of these today is now quite hard, and this bookmark is also one of those which is really quite hard to find now.

 

Hopefully this selection of bookmarks shows how collecting just one company can lead to branching out into side items which, especially if they are free, is a nice way forward towards a more complete picture of a companies output.

Some of these items are on eBay so if you are interested in these bookmarks have a look and see if you can find them, they are also quite reasonably priced in most cases (but please do not pay more than £1 each for these as they are really-not worth that much).

 

16/01/2018

MR HOLMES

THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTH

Starring

Ian McKellen

Promotional Postcard Sized Flyer

 

We were looking for something to watch last night and I taped (showing my age here – I suppose the modern non-VHS tape age correct wording should be – recorded) the film ‘Mr Holmes’, so we watched this. I have always been a fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories and read all the Conan Doyle books when I was younger, and I have since read many of the modern books that involve the characters since the character went out of copyright. I really enjoyed this film, although it is not based on any of the original canon books. It is the type of film which I often say they don’t make any more, and by that, I mean, it is a character driven film, quite slow in how it builds up its story, which hangs around the necks of just a handful of characters. There are no fast chases, sudden shocks, moments of high excitement even, but there is charm and a love for the main character who is portrayed by the actor Ian McKellen at two very different times of his life. The portrayal of Sherlock Holmes at the later stage of his life portrays him as suffering the initial stages of senility, with memory loss and how this affects his life. As a ‘Holmes’ fanatic I enjoyed the way the character was shown. It had a sense of reality and truthfulness to Holmes which I could see and believe would have been how Holmes could have suffered as an elderly man. I recommend this film to all those who have followed the books and don’t mind a slow burn watch with a strong central depiction.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF CARD

As you can see this has all the important information about the film. This was a free item which I found in what was the Boomerang Free Cards rack at my local cinema. It is obviously not a postcard, but it is still a delightful souvenir.

 

15/01/2018

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

‘SOMEWHERE 2016’

Digital Illustration

By

Amber Pearce

Published by

AVANTCARD AUSTRALIA

Ref: #19985

Issued 2016

 

I am bemoaning the loss of Avantcard Australia last year. But, they issued so many postcards over the years I am still finding ones which catch my eye. This is a nice poster styled piece of artwork, one which is a digital illustration. This is now a very popular form of picture design and contrary to popular belief is much harder than it sounds. I once watched a young-women who was working on a digital illustration of a dragon on her laptop. The amount of work that went into it, and the time she spent adjusting little areas of the scales and other touches, amazed me and I have looked upon digital art with a fresh eye ever since.

This illustration is another example of Avantcard printing, for free, examples of artist work. This offer that they had was taken up by many different artists who submitted a varied assortment of works in the most amazing array of artistic styles, some of which I have previously posted on the webpage.

 

 

14/01/2018

 

GERMAN ARMY

FELDPOST

(FIELDPOST)

POSTCARD

WORLD WAR II

Posted 13th August 1943

Small cartoon drawing by Hugo Frank

 

Central dividing line text:

Entnommen aus "Soldatenblätter für Feier und Freizeit", herausgegeben vom OKW.

Offsendruck: Bibliographics Institut AG.,Leipzig, Graphischer Grobbetrieb

(Taken from "Soldier sheets for celebration and free time", published by the OKW.
Offsendruck: Bibliographics Institut AG., Leipzig, graphic coarse operation
)

 

The postcards used during World War II are a ‘particular’ interest of mine. I am especially interested in cards sent by soldiers and those caught up in the long conflict. At the time this ‘FELDPOST’ card was sent the German army was in the retreat in the Soviet Union and only day before they had evacuated Sicily. The sender of this card has written a lengthy message to his Mother on this card. Unfortunately, the hand-written message on this side of the card is to difficult for me to make out, so I can not tell you what is said here. Fortunately, some of the message on the reverse side is typed, and here, with help from Jo’s cousin Gill (thanks Gill), we have an idea of what was being sent in part.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

 

Here is what has been deciphered from the typed message:

 

Dearest Mother

Friday 13th August

KAM 163 [This is probably a reference to the regiment the sender was attached to]

I have been thinking about our short but extremely happy meeting on 2nd August. Latest news: In his pocket he has a confession paper from March 43. He is peace itself. Often there is a row in the office when someone has done something wrong etc, but he still remains calm. He doesn’t say a word. The boss is no longer by his side as he lets him work alone. He begins later and stops earlier – these are naturally good things for the cleaner.

Today is cinema opening day. The Journey to Adventure! [there was a German film with this title from 1925/6 – Adventure films were very popular in the Nazi era] Production 1939 [not sure how this date relates here]. Suit: tailcoat, evening wear! Velvety apricots were lazy and not enjoyable and sent home as inedible. They weren’t wet either Mother. You must treat my packages with the same love as my letters which are no trouble [I am assuming that the writer received some spoilt apricots in a package from his mother]. See them as an ambassador of me. Have you only paid the radio fee for Hirschberg [a location in the Baden-Wurtemberg part of Germany], or are you now synchronised?

You do not need to have any grey hairs about my mood.  

 

If anyone can assist us with a more precise translation, or better still can make out what is written on the front, and at the bottom on the reverse side here, then I would love to hear from you (message me through either the email or facebook page via the ‘CONTACT US’ tab above). We would appreciate any help here as we would like to learn more about the sender of this card. I have found this postcard fascinating and I would love to know which theatre of war this came from, was it from the Russian Front? Or elsewhere? Possibly even Italy!

 

14/01/2018

THE SECRET MINISTRY OF FROST

NICK LAKE

“SNOW LIES. FROST BITES”

Book advert postcard published for the book printing company:

SIMON AND SCHUSTER

 

Text on the reverse side of this promotional free postcard informs me that this book was released on 2nd March 2009. Nick Lake is, or possibly was now, a children’s book editor at Harper UK. This children’s book is about a girl called Light whose father disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the Arctic. The story is wrapped around Inuit folklore and a different mysterious world, which includes a shark headed character called Tupilak, who I assume is the character that is depicted on the postcard, which depicts the books cover.

I found this postcard in a 50p box at a book market. I quite like book advert cards and I have a reasonable collection of postcards which depict either book covers, or details and images from released books. When I found this card, I thought I would probably buy it, but when I turned it over I knew that I would. This was because it has been signed by Nick Lake, the books author.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Signed by

NICK LAKE

 

14/01/2018

BERLIN

BRANDENBURGER TOR

(BRANDENBURG GATE)

SEKTOREN GRENZE

(SECTORS BORDER)

Published by

Annonymous Publisher

KUNST UND BILD, BERLIN W 15

(‘KUNST UND BILD’ means ‘Art and Picture’)

 

I do like postcards which show the years of Berlin after the Second World War but before the Berlin Wall was erected. This postcard was posted in the 1950’s (it is hard to make out the second number in the applied hand-stamp, but it is probably either a ‘2’ or a ‘7’ – so we have either 1952 or 1957). This photograph was taken from the British Sector looking at the Brandenburg Gate and this is where the Berlin wall went across later. You can see several border guards here, all checking vehicles and drivers. My favourite bit here is the signs in the bottom right corner, especially the one reading ‘YOU ARE NOW LEAVING BRITISH SECTOR’. There is a lot of modern history wrapped up in this photograph and a lot has changed in this area over the last 60 to 70 years. It also a place that I have visited so I have the added interest of seeing an area that I have stood in, although this was long after the wall had come down.

 

Close-up view of border signs area 

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

 

The two Queen Elizabeth ‘Wilding’ definitive stamps might at first lead someone without postal history knowledge to assume this card was posted when the sender was back in the UK. But, in fact this card was posted in Berlin. This card was posted by someone serving in the British forces based here at the time. The forces were to use QEII UK stamps obtained at their bases. The stamps have been cancelled with a forces FIELD POST OFFICE 911 double ring cancellation, which was being used in the British Sector of Berlin at this time. This card has nice usage and depicts an interesting view, not bad for 20p, which is what this cost me when I bought it at a Military History event last year.

 

14/01/2018

NORD 1101/Bf208

Aircraft Collection at Duxford Airfield No. 14

Published for

THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

Printed by

RAITHBY, LAWRENCE & COMPANY Ltd (Leicester and London)

 

I am always looking for postcards depicting the less usual aircraft, especially from the second world war era. This one fitted that bill nicely. Originally a Messerschmitt Me 208 the Nord was a French built re-engined version of the Me 208. Construction of the original planes took place in German occupied France, commencing in 1942. The company ‘Societe Nationale de Constructions Aeronautiques du Nord’ built two prototypes of the Messerscmitt Me 208 during 1943 – 1944. One survived the liberation and was, as stated, re-designed as the Nord 1100. The re-engined version, now with a Renault 6Q-10 engine, is what became the Nord 1101. The 1101 was given the name of the ‘Ramier’ by the French military

 

14/01/2018

THE FLASH MOB

A SINGULAR ACT OF FEMALE REBELLION IN VAN DIEMEN’S LAND

Printed (& Published?) by

My Word 2003

 

The story behind this quite amusing image is very well written up on the reverse side of this postcard so I will show this side below so that you can read it. Van Diemen’s land was the original name used by the Europeans for what we now know as the island of Tasmania, off the coast of Australia. The name changed to Tasmania back in 1856. The incident recorded on this image is an actual event that occurred in 1844. I found this in a dealer’s cheap box (at the Woking Postcard Fair I think) and the image looked so unusual I immediately turned over and read the story of what is going on here. My fascination with history meant that I ended up buying this one as it really is a great story.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

 

The story behind the flashing of around 300 female bottoms

(this seems so indicative of that ‘Australian’ spirit and attitude which we all so love)

 

This enlargement of the text may be easier to read

 

13/01/2018

BRISTOL POSTCARD FAIR

Saturday 5th February 2000

Postcard printed to raise money for the Grand Appeal for the Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol

Royal Hospital for Sick Children & Women, St Michael’s, Bristol.

 

As a collector of television related postcards, I am always on the hunt for the more unusual cards that are out there. This is perhaps the strangest ‘Wallace & Gromit’ postcard in my collection. When I first came across out in a dealer’s stock I almost missed the connection. I wouldn’t mind betting that there are many collectors of Wallace & Gromit out there who are unaware of this ‘particular’ card. The card was simply printed on matt card and it lacks a ‘quality’ feel, but for me this just makes the card even more appealing and unusual. It was not designed to travel far and be a big seller. It was designed for the Bristol area and those attending this fair in 2000. Therefore, copies are not extremely common, especially as I suspect not a great many were printed. Because of the lower quality feel of this card it is often (when you can find a copy) priced by postcard dealers much lower than I think it should be. I have picked up two for just 50p each, although many years apart. I think this is a £2+ card – on eBay it would probably be priced much higher.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This design here is also extremely simple in concept, and it does nothing to make this card feel like it was professionally produced (although I suspect it was cheaply made with the intention to raise money from it on a localised area, rather than a production designed for a wider distribution). Local area postcards can often be the unusual cards in a theme collection, and the ones that other collectors do not have and are often unaware of as well.

 

13/01/2018

FIGHT RACISM

I can’t quite make out the publisher for this card, but it was printed by:

DONNELLY / COLT CUSTOMPRINTING (USA)

 

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

“I am a Muslim and … my religion makes me be against all forms of racism. It keeps me from judging any man by the color of his skin. It teaches me to judge him by his deeds and his conscious behaviour. And it teaches me to be for the rights of all human beings …

Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)

 

An American published postcard, which I suspect was from the 1980’s or 1990’s, but the subject matter is still relevant, especially with some of this week’s news items. The two quotes given above are taken from the reverse side of this postcard. The image used depicts both Martin Luther King, Jr (left side) and Malcolm X (right side). This card is from my political themed collection.

 

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