06/07/2018

HOMMAGE A CHARLIE CHAPLIN

By

J. P. ROSTENNE (1978)

1979

Published by

J. P. ROSTENNE

If you go back and look at my entry dated 28/11/2016 – NOV BLOG 2 – you will find four Charlie Chaplin postcards depicting this same simple black outline by Rostenne (printed on different coloured card – blue, yellow, pink, green and white – the white one is a different release to this card here). This postcard here was a special 1979 issue with a full calendar on the reverse side. This may be a simple postcard design, but it is quite a scarce and valuable one. It fits in nicely with the others (check them out)

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

06/07/2018

UNTITLED

(Children Chasing Postcards)

Published by

CARDEXPO

Ref: CARDEXPO 1

1986

I have always liked this simple postcard design, which has hardly any explaining text on the reverse side, just the reference details as shown above, nothing else. The postcard depicted in the bottom right corner on the front has the French spelling of postcard: CARTE POSTALE, which would seem to indicate a French source for this postcard, but I’m not positive about that because the simple reverse side has a UK feel about it. It is a lovely card whatever.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

See what I mean about the UK look and feel - its even spelt POSTCARD here! 

05/07/2018

“RETURNING TO THE LAND OF AHS”

Design by

RICK GEARY

Published by

T. AXEL JOHNSON

1991

Full colour Rick Geary design commissioned by postcard collector Tim Johnson. In America Rick Geary was renowned for producing postcard designs for collectors, dealers and postcard clubs across the US.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

A superb design has been used here

05/07/2018

MAY GOOD LUCK AND A SMILE

BE WITH YOU ALL THE WHILE!

By

D. TEMPEST

Published by

BAMFORTH & CO., LTD

HOLMFIRTH

Ref: No. K 18

In their:

“TEMPEST KIDDY”

Series

My copy here was posted during World War II on the 21^st July 1943. The pencil written message would seem so normal if the world wasn’t at war at the time:

Having a nice Holiday,

Great weather

Hope to be seeing you soon

Ina (?)

Children and cats have always been two popular themes, so this postcard image was probably very popular.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Posted

21^st July 1943

05/07/2018

PENRHOS NATURE RESERVE,

ISLE OF ANGLESEY

Gwarchodfa Natur Penrhos

P.S. KEN WILLIAMS, MBE, FZS,

WITH GYR FALCON

BARN OWL (top left), SPECIALIST SECTOR (top right)

ENTRANCE-TELFORD GATE WITH STANLEY EAGLES (bottom left),

COMMON TERN (bottom right)

Published by

J. ARTHUR DIXON

(A DICKINSON ROBINSON GROUP PRODUCT)

Ref: L6/SP. 5263

This multi-view postcard ticks a few boxes. I collect both wildlife and police related postcards, and this is a great unusual ‘Police’ themed one. I am assuming that Ken was a wildlife officer (after all, he does have a ruddy great falcon on his arm – not a normal position for most police officers!). I was also a wildlife officer, for over 15 years, and loved that part of the job, although for me it was an addition to my normal duties, something I volunteered to do (madness, I know), but I also got a lot from it. I attended two national Badger Conferences, a range of annual wildlife PAW (Partnership against Wildlife Crime) seminars at Kew Gardens in London (Kew Gardens were part of the partnership), and as a result got to see behind the scenes at Kew Gardens and access to the gardens themselves. I also attended two animal handling courses at Heathrow Airport (the course is run by the animal quarantine section – it is almost like an ever-changing zoo here – I got to handle a five foot long black caiman crocodile, hundreds of Tarantula spiders, opened a box of 300 Chameleons and got bitten by an extremely vicious non-poisonous [phew!] snake, but didn’t drop it [the course handlers told me that the snake bites everybody and that they used it to show how easy it was to drop and lose an animal, but I spoiled the session, and their fun, by being the first person not to drop it, thus doing what they wanted to show people they needed to do when handling animals by doing it right first time!], and I spent some time in a cage full of ring-tailed lemurs – all of which were, for me, truly wonderful experiences). Being a Wildlife Officer was part of the job I saw as a bonus, and not a chore.        

05/07/2018

GREETINGS FROM

NORTH NORFOLK

Published by Unknown Publisher

But, text on the reverse side reads:

CARD SOLD IN SHED CRAFTS,

LITTLE WALSINGHAM

I was in Walsingham, Norfolk a couple of weekends ago now. Whilst my wife was a service at the Slipper Chapel a mile outside of the village of Walsingham I walked the Pilgrim Walk into the town and had a look around whilst the some of the shops were still open. I am glad I did as the shop called ‘SHED CRAFTS’ was only open that day (it was a Saturday and when we spent more time here on the Sunday it was closed). This was a great little shop with a range of unusual goods, and some great paintings of local locations which were by someone local who had painted them in the style of well known painters like Monet and Van Gogh, very clever I thought. Best of all though was a small box of postcards which were unique to this shop. Most were local views (I will post some of these in the future), but there was also this unusual ‘Greetings From’ design. I don’t know if this is a fairy, gnome (unlikely I feel) or an elf (no hat though), whichever, it is an unusual modern release.

Whilst here I had a great little chat with the shop owner who told me some local stories and told me about the paintings hanging on the shop wall. We also talked about the postcards, I think he was a bit surprised that someone wanted so many!

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

PHOTOGRAPH

I took a photograph of the front of the

SHED CRAFTS

Shop in Walsingham

If you ever visit here, then have a look inside as it is a great little local shop

05/07/2018

UNTITLED

(White Rabbit)

Published by

THE POSTCARD STORE

This is by the same company that published the ladybird postcard I posted on the webpage on 27/06/2018 (June 2018 Blog 7). These are untitled and have no reference number, so there is not a lot to say about them, except, perhaps, that this is a very cute rabbit (when I was young we had a pet white rabbit called Henry, he was massive and had a free run of the house pretty much).

05/07/2018

HALLEY’S COMET

BACK AGAIN IN 1985

‘TRICK OR TREAT’

Designed, Drawn and Published

By

ANN RUSNAK

Ref: No. 4

In her

‘TIMELY TOPICS’ series

It has been awhile since I have placed an Ann Rusnak postcard on the webpage, so today I have decided to depict one of my favourites. It is a simple design, but perfectly executed with the artwork being so typical of Ann, and it looks great printed on the orange coloured card.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

SIGNED BY ANN RUSNAK

This is one of the selection of cards in my collection which I had Ann sign for me when I had the pleasure of meeting her in London in 1994 on a visit she made to the London ‘Picture Postcard Centenary Show’. She was a lovely person and when she passed away the modern postcard world lost one if its modern lights.

04/07/2018

BALD EAGLE

(Maximum Card)

FIRST DAY OF ISSUE: 6^TH July 1991

FIRST ISSUE LOCATION: San Diego, California

Original Painting

By Don Balke

Published by

UNICOVER CORPORATION

1991

In their:

THE MAXIMUM CARD COLLECTION

Ref: No. 91-48

When I saw this maximum-card in a stamp shop in London I was delighted as I have always loved the look of this $2.90 bald eagle stamp, but I had assumed, because it is a high value postage stamp, that I would never find one on a postcard. This card is a special first day of issue cancelled card [for those in the UK where it is usual for a stamp release to be universal across the whole country, in the US they issue each stamp in a specific location first before having the general release].

The $2.90 value was for Priority Mail. In the catalogue ‘The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps – 28^th Edition’ this is reference number 2540 and in 2001, when this edition came out, a first day cover was valued at $4.50. In the Stanley Gibbons stamps of the world catalogue this is reference SG 2594 (in my 2004 catalogue a basic used example is valued at £2.50). I paid £7.50 for this F.D.I. card, and I think it was reasonably priced towards its upper end value, but what a cracking card though.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

With written details about the stamp and the Bald Eagle

04/07/2018

HAPPY 4^TH JULY

TO ALL MY AMERICAN WEBPAGE READERS

KING OF PRUSSIA POSTCARD SHOW

JUNE 18-19-20, 1987

Published by

JOHN H. McCLINTOCK

An official American postcard fair promotional postcard from 1987. The image seemed an appropriate one for this day.

04/07/2018

Congratulations to the England Football Team on last nights win and gaining a place in the quarter-finals in the Football World Cup. It’s further than I thought they would get. The penalty shoot out competition gave my family some heart stalling moments, but they are through. I wish them luck against Sweden as I feel they are going to need it, but, in my opinion they have already had a successful World Cup.

WORLD CUP

PALERMONDIALE

90

Published by

EDIZIONE LA NUOVA TIPOGRAFIA

PALERMO

A Football World Cup 1990 postcard, one of the many that were issued for this event held in Italy. It was one of the most popular for postcard production and there are some crackers.  

03/07/2018

GREETINGS FROM

WELLS-NEXT-THE SEA

(Norfolk)

THE BEACH TRAIN

Published by

J. SALMON LTD (Sevenoaks)

Ref: 2 – 29 – 06 – 34

This is lovely little train which Jo and I rode on our visit here two weekends ago. We walked out to the far end of the track (I recommend doing it this way), not a short walk, and rode the train back to the beach end which is depicted here, so this is where we actually got off the train. If you ever visit here then have a ride on this as its only £1.50 each way and is a bit of fun worth doing, with or without kids.

GREETINGS FROM

WELLS-NEXT-THE SEA

(Norfolk)

THE QUAY – BEACH HUTS – EAST END - BEACH TRAIN – THE QUAY

Published by

J. SALMON LTD (Sevenoaks)

Ref: 2 – 29 – 06 – 26

This is a multi-view postcard of the type so commonly found all over the coastline of the UK, and from inland locations as well. This one contains the same photograph of the beach train as used in entirety on the above postcard. I have visited Wells-Next-The-Sea three times in all and never had a bad visit as the sun has always shined and there has always been lots to see and do, and there is an ice-cream shop which sells the best ice-cream I have ever tasted, and I will be returning just to have more of that.

PHOTOGRAPH

Taken 24^th June 2018

This photo was taken at the other end of the line, where we got on the train to return to the beach end (as depicted on the postcards). The man in the forefront is the train driver (he kindly waited whilst I took this photograph before he climbed into the train to turn it around and attach it to to the other end - you can just see the turn around track bottom left side of the image)

PHOTOGRAPH

Get your ice cream from here – the ‘Honeycomb’ flavour is to die for, and the salted caramel is extremely good as well. This ice cream window is just around the corner from the train station depicted on the postcards above - get your ice cream from here and trust me, you will not be sorry, you could even eat it whilst riding the train, what could be better?

03/07/2018

DENALI NATIONAL PARK

ALASKA

POLYCHROME PASS

Published by

LANTERN PRESS,

SEATTLE

‘LANTERN PRESS ORIGINAL POSTER’

Ref: IMAGE #42443

I recently mentioned to my friend Frank, who resides in America (he is also known as the ‘Postcardist’ and runs an excellent and very informative podcast site all about postcards) that I liked these Lantern Press natural America wilderness poster design postcards. So, in response Frank has kindly sent me this one depicting a site in Alaska. Frank has also applied some superb stamps to the reverse side as postage, and as you should have worked out by now I love collecting stamps through their usage on postcards.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

The first stamp to catch my eye is the red coloured ‘Forever’ value 2016 issued ‘Star Trek’ stamp, which shows someone being beamed up (or possibly down – it doesn’t define which!). I openly collect TV related stamps and was pleased to have a properly used one. There were four stamps in this set and I bought a mint collectors sheet of them on one of my last two trips to America (the Christmas 2016 one I think).

Then you have 32 cents ‘TOYS’ [Construction Toys] stamp from the 1998 issued ‘Celebrate the Century’ stamp sheet for the 1910’s. This is a stamp I did not previously have a copy of. I have all the USA ‘Celebrate the Century’ stamps sheets from the 1930’s sheet onwards as these all contained at least one television themed stamp. The first three, 1900’s 1910’ and 1920’s did not have any TV related stamps, so I did not buy those ones (each sheet contained 15 different stamps, and at around £10 a sheet here in the UK I was already spending some money on the ones I did want!). So, this is a first for my used USA Stamps on postcard set.

Lastly, there is the superb recently issued (this year – 1918) new intaglio printed, blue coloured, ‘AIRMAIL’ stamp which celebrates the 100^th anniversary of the first Curtis Jenny biplane to carry U.S. airmail, back in 1918. This is another ‘Forever’ value postage stamp (and as I have explained before the ‘Forever’ value means just that, if the cost of airmail goes up in the future this stamp can still be used regardless of what the customer paid for it – and when the cost goes up the postal service does not have to issue new valued stamps).

A superb combination of stamps, which I again suspect overpays the cost of postage to the UK, but no complaint at this end as I love these US stamps.

03/07/2018

I SAW THE ‘ROLLING STONES’ AT

THE 29^TH WICHITA INTERNATIONAL (POSTCARD SHOW).

Artwork by

RICK GEARY

(2006)

Published by

HAL OTTAWAY

In his:

‘I SAW…’ series

Issued in a hand numbered Limited Edition of 500 postcards

Hal Ottaway issued a number of these ‘I Saw…’ postcards which each individually named a famous person or group of connected people, more often-than-not a single person, so this Rolling Stones card is a little more unusual. I like the way Rick has drawn the ‘Greetings from London’ postcard and the ‘Union Jack’ postcard falling from their hands, a nod to the originating country for the rock group.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

My copy is number 88 of the 500 issued

03/07/2018

MIKE LANDON

Published by

STAR PICS

Ref: SP100

The ‘Star Pics’ cards are collected as postcards despite being plain backed. They of the same size, thickness and production values of other postcards released in the 1960’s, from whence they date, and have the deckle edging that was so popular in the 1950’s and which carried over into the early 1960’s. This black and white photograph, with facsimile printed signature, is from Landon’s regular appearances as a title character ‘Little Joe’ in the TV series ‘Bonanza’. Although plain backed the Star Pics cards are highly collected as they often featured very popular actors and musicians of the time, and as many of these still retain a fan base they continue to be valuable, especially when they depict The Beatles etc.

03/07/2018

UNTITLED

(BLUE WHALE)

Design by

MONSTER RIOT

(I assume this is a design company name rather than someone’s personal name!)

Published by

LAGOM DESIGN LTD

Ref: MRP02

(Copyright 2013)

As I was going through my selection of scanned postcards I came across this art one and immediately thought that as I had posted the Natural History Museum blue whale skeleton postcards yesterday (4 of them in fact, and two of my own photographs – see below) this one would be an appropriate more whimsical one for today’s postings. This is a recent release which I found earlier this year in a branch of 'paperchase' (although I have not seen any copies on my most recent visits to branches in Bluewater and Bury St Edmunds)

03/07/2018

ROSE

Published by

MARQUE L – E

21 Rue Joubert, Paris

In their:

SERIE FANTAISIES

Ref: No. 4509

A beautiful design depicting a basket of flowers with the pink roses spelling out the word ROSE. When I first saw this amongst a wide selection of cards in a French antique shop it caught my eye because my granddaughter is called Rose, so I bought it. We buy cards for all sorts of reasons, some logical, some not, but this one was a logical reason backed up by a secondary one which is that it was, and is, a lovely postcard image (the fact that it was cheap probably didn’t hurt either!)

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

With hand written message – this was probably posted under a separate envelope/cover

There is a date written across the top which shows that this card was written on in the 1920’s. The year is either 1925 or 1929, I always struggle a bit with how the French write their ‘9’s. I think this is probably a 9, so 1929 seems more likely if I am honest. At least I know what decade this card was used in, which is all helpful dating information.

03/07/2018

LA BASILIQUE DU SACRE-COEUR

Published by

PHOTO ET IMP. PATRAS, PARIS

In their Series:

LES JOLIS COINS DE PARIS

(PICTURESQUE CORNERS OF PARIS)

Ref: 122

This is a lovely painting of the famous French landmark the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, more commonly known as the ‘Sacre-Coeur Basilica’, although it is also often just called Sacre-Coeur. This is a Roman Catholic church which is located at the summit of the highest point in the city of Paris, the butte Montmartre. The ground work commenced in 1875, but the church was not completed until 194, and not consecrated until 1919 (I suspect the first world war may have had some effect on this delay). The basilica was designed by Paul Abadie.

<< New image with text >>

02/07/2018

HINTZE HALL

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

“Alfred Waterhouse (1830 – 1905) designed the Museum in the 1860’s

And it first opened its doors on Easter Monday 1881”

LARGE SQAURE SHAPED POSTCARD

Published by the

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

This is now an out-of-date image as this depicts the old Brontosaurus skeleton that used to occupy the main hall, the main entrance can be seen I the distance either side of the skeleton. This skeleton (a model fabricated skeleton) has now gone on tour around the country (see previous posting on 20/05/2018 - May 2018 Blog 3). The skeleton has been affectionally nick-named ‘Dippy’ and has appeared here on the webpage before. The hall now has a Blue Whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling - see below postcard images.

SKELETON OF A BLUE WHALE,

VIEWED FROM BELOW,

ON DISPLAY IN HINTZE HALL

AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM,

LONDON

LARGE SQAURE SHAPED POSTCARD

Published by the

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Ref: 16069

This skeleton was unveiled on 14^th July 2017 and it replaced the Brontosaurus skeleton which had been the main feature of the hall for some years. As mentioned above this Brontosaurus skeleton has now gone on tour around the UK.

The whale from which this skeleton was obtained washed up and became stranded at Wexford Harbour, Ireland in 1891. It first went on display in the museums ‘Mammals’ Gallery in 1938 and now of course has been moved and takes pride of place in the main hall. When I first heard of the idea of placing it here I was skeptical, but I have now seen it and must agree that it is an impressive installation and deserves to be shown here. 

FRONT VIEW OF A BLUE WHALE SKELETON

ON DISPLAY IN HINTZE HALL AT THE

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON

Published by the

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Ref: 16068

The title text is different to the above square postcard, but the descriptive information text is identical. I like both of these ‘Whale Skeleton’ postcards, because they both include the statue of Charles Darwin which is at the top of the central staircase at its first level.

PHOTOGRAPH

Taken 14^th May 2018

This is one of my personal photographs from my first visit to the museum after the blue whale skeleton was unveiled.  

PHOTOGRAPH

Taken 14^th May 2018

Another of my photographs

02/07/2018

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

THE MUSEUM IN A BOX

POSTCARDS IN A BOX

Official Museum Boxed Postcard Set

Published by the Museum in 2017

(Printed in China)

Collection of 50 Postcards

I bought this boxed collection late last year from a major book store in London. I love the Natural History Museum in London and it plays an important part in my personal postcard collecting story as it was the location where I realised that I was going to be a postcard collector for sure. It was also where I first bought a large selection of postcards from one location. So, when I saw this boxed set I knew I had to have it. This box contains an amazing selection of images which includes exhibits, both old ones and current ones, and a fascinating selection of black and white historical photographs. If you have any interest in wildlife or this particular-museum, then this set is a must have collection:

PHOTOGRAPH

FRONT OF POSTCARD BOXED COLLECTION

THE MUSEUM COLLECTION

PHOTOGRAPH

SIDE VIEW OF BOXED COLLECTION

HOPE THE BLUE WHALE

Suspended from the ceiling of Hintze Hall

I scanned this single card from the collection because it was the very first postcard I had seen which depicted the then new suspended Blue Whale skeleton in the main hall of the museum. The Whale took some time to put in place, but it was officially unveiled on the 14^th July 2017. This is the card which caught my eye, but there was also another photographic card depicting this new exhibit, which is included in the above selection.     

01/07/2018

MARSTON’S

Brewery Untitled Postcard Series

Historical explanations for words or phrases used in the English language.

I do not know if these are correct historical explanations for these well-known words and sentences, but I see no reason why they are not. They are at least interesting. These are not numbered or titled, beyond that of the word or phrase being explained. These are all the ones I have so far found, but there could be even more. There is also no dating material on these cards to show when they were released or for that matter why, exactly (clearly, they are a promotional release, but were they individually available or released as a set in some sort of promotional offer? – if anyone knows I would love to hear from you).

“MICKEY FINN”

"BULL"

"BOOTLEGGER"

"ABOVE BOARD"

"TO SWEEP THE BOARD"

"THE REAL McCOY"

"TO FORK OUT"

"PUT A SOCK IN IT"

BASIC REVERSE LAYOUT USED ON ALL THE ABOVE POSTCARDS

01/07/2018

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

L.N.E.R

Official NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM Postcard

Printed and Distributed by

STAR EDITIONS LTD

Ref: ESS003

Superb poster depicting the cliff gardens in my home town of Southend-on-Sea. I had not seen this poster before so was pleased to come across this on a dealer’s stall at a recent postcard fair. It fits nicely into my local history collection.  

01/07/2018

JOHN LENNON

1940 – 1980

TIMES SQUARE,

NEW YORK CITY

1980

Photograph

Gerard A. Brierre

Published by

THE AMERICAN POSTCARD CO, INC

(Copyright 1982)

Ref: 853

A sad moment in history captured forever in this photograph and on this postcard depicting it. I assume this notice board depicted this message on or soon after the 8^th December 1980, which was the date that John Lennon was assassinated (I think this word is too ‘political’ to feel correct in this case – Lennon was murdered, and this was the offence, second degree murder, that his killer – Mark Chapman – pleaded guilty to).