05/03/2018

28^th WICHITA INTERNATIONAL (Postcard Show)

Saturday 15^th October to Sunday 16^th October 2005

Published by

WICHITA POSTCARD CLUB

Artwork by

Rick Geary

The artwork of Rick Geary is instantly recognisable by its style. He has drawn designs for postcards for many American postcard organisations, both companies and individuals. His artwork is highly collected and some of his early material can cost £20+. I have been a collector of Ricks work for many years and I have a substantial collection of his earlier postcard output. My collection, which numbers well over 200 individual postcards, is mainly concentrated around the 1980’s and 1990’s, through to the early 2000’s, but I will still pick up some of the later issues, such as this smashing 2005 train one.

05/03/2018

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER

Published by

B & C Ltd

A BIRTHDAY WISH

Ref: Series No. 101

A beautiful ‘Birthday’ card which is postcard sized, but which is not quite a true postcard because of the reverse layout. It is a card from my novelty collection as it has a real piece of blue ribbon knotted through two punched holes at the top of the blue circle on the right side. This was another of the cards I found in London at the Islington antiques market recently. I liked it as soon as I saw it, and I thought it was a bargain at just £1.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Here you can see why this is not a true postcard, but it does have enough connections, size, type of card, the front image and the fact that it is a single piece of card, and not a folded ‘greetings’ styled item, to make it fit nicely into a postcard collection as a miscellaneous item.

05/03/2018

HANDLEY PAGE HP 42 (Model)

Printed by the

SCIENCE MUSEUM

(London)

Ref: Card 382

“Eight machines of this class were built for Imperial Airways and used in Europe and the Middle East from 1931 until the outbreak of war in 1939. By this time the class had accumulated an aggregate mileage of over ten million. Cruising speed about 100 m.p.h.”

(Text from reverse side of Postcard)

Some of the early Science Museum postcards are very collectible, and some are valued at £2+ each, including, I think, this one here. The cards from here which seem to be most valued are those with a transport theme, as the series has some very nice images of actual craft or models of such craft, these models coming from the museums displays. This one is a photograph of a real airplane, and it is a cracker.

05/03/2018

BEST OF BRITISH

QUIRKY TRAITS

SERIES 6 – HUMOUR

Published by

BOOMERANG MEDIA

LES DAWSON

By

Sten Rosenlund

TOMMY COOPER

By

Jon Lyons

There was a time, a few years back now, when ‘Boomerang’ were issuing some interesting images which had nothing to do with any promotions or product placement. Some of these cards were under the heading ‘BEST OF BRITISH’, and I was pleased that one or two fitted nicely into my television collection. Both of these well known, now sadly passed on, comedians had long running television series. These are very typical photographs of the two, but I believe this is the first time that these images have appeared on postcard.

04/03/2018

PHOTOGRAPH

THOR – RAGNAROK

‘BIG SLEEVE’

DVD & BLU-RAY

FULL PACKAGE SEEN FROM THE FRONT

Contains 5 Large Artcards

I bought this DVD/BLU-RAY today (its £25 if your interested in buying one) at my local large Tesco’s store. It comes with five large, the size of the cover (so 12” x 12”), Artcards. The reason why I decided to picture these here, as they are clearly not postcards, is that these depict the same images, on one side, as those which were used on the five free Odeon postcards which were issued whilst the film was in the cinemas. I have depicted these cards on a previous posting (check out the posting on 25/11/2017 – via ‘November Blogs 2017’ then the tab ‘November 2017 Blog 3’).

PHOTOGRAPH

Expanded cover of the DVD Big Sleeve package

PHOTOGRAPH

The five large Artcards (one side)

PHOTOGRAPHS

The other side of the five Artcards

I think these are great – not postcards, but still great card items.

04/03/2018

FIRST DAY COVER

(ENVELOPE)

GERMANY

DOX FLYING BOAT

2004

I am fascinated by the Dornier DOX D1929 Flying Boat and have a collection of postcards which depict this unusual aircraft, some of which were carried on some of its flights. The original material from the very early 1930’s can be very expensive, so it is nice when you come across modern commemorative issues. Because of my interest I do also buy covers and stamps which depict this craft. I do have a complete sheet of ten of this German stamp used here on this cover. This cover, depicted here, I picked up from another member of the Concorde Study Circle at our meeting at Stampex this year. I would have been happy just to have this large cover, but then I opened it…

LARGE POSTCARD

FLUGBOOT DoX

2004

TAG DER BRIEFMARKE

‘Flyingboat DoX

2004

Day of the Stamp (First Day of Issue)

Inside the first day of issue cover (depicted at the top) I found this superb large postcard. This depicts a painting of the Dornier DoX D1929, which was at the time the largest aircraft built. It also has a nice insert picture of the interior of the DoX which looks very swish. I often talk about my favourite aircraft, but there is no doubt which one is the top of my list, and that is this flying boat shown here.

I will dig out my mounted collection on the Dornier DoX D1929 (it is all mounted up on sheets because I do a display on this craft to stamp and postcard clubs locally and across the UK – It is one of the collections which has items in it which are of a higher standard than much of my collection) and I will post some of the more interesting item here on the webpage. In the meantime, this postcard image should be enough to wet-your-appetite.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This has an outline drawing of the Dornier DoX D1929 beside a stamp which depicts Claude Dornier who designed this flying boat.

04/03/2018

POSTAL STATIONERY ITEM

INDIA 1905

Invalid use of Great Britain Post Card cut-outs on an item used internally in India 

This is one of my unusual items from my ‘Postal Stationery Post Cards’ collection. It is an envelope which has two Queen Victoria ½ d Brown Post Card cut-outs, one cut very large, attached to the front to cover postage for an envelope item (a postcard was 1/2d to post whilst an envelope was 1d). Both of these cut-out post card stamps have been cancelled with circular date stamps for COLOMBO (which has been the capitol of Sri Lanka, although at the time of this item being posted Sri Lanka was still called Ceylon). These are dated the 26^th October 1905. This item was posted within India, from Colombo to Calcutta and it received a Calcutta receiving cancellation on the reverse side.

The interesting thing here is that the post card cut-outs are from British post cards, and not Indian postal stationery post cards. Technically, they would be invalid for usage in India. Despite this though, it is clear that this item was delivered, incorrectly!

I liked this item, which I found on a stall at the recent Stampex show. I knew that I wanted it for my collection but, is this a postcard item? Or is this an envelope/cover piece? I would say it is both, and that it would be of interest to all people who collect this era, and area of philately.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE ITEM

With the Calcutta receiving cancellation for 8 am

04/03/2018

OSBORN-SMITH WAX MUSEUM

BRADING, ISLE OF WIGHT

“THE ROYAL PRISONER”

KING CHARLES I

Published by

J. ARTHUR DIXON (LTD)

Ref: SP. 796

“Scene: - “The Royal Prisoner,” King Charles I, detained at Carisbrooke Castle, 1647, conferring with his ardent supporter Sir John Oglander of Nunwell, Brading, I.W”

(Text from reverse side of Postcard)

I have been looking at the life of King Charles I after visiting the display of some of his artwork collection, back together for the first time since just after his death, last month at the Royal Academy of Arts, in London (for images of the postcards from this display check out my posting on the 20/02/2018 – via tab ‘February Blogs 2018’ then ‘February 2018 Blog 3’).

I came across this postcard in one of my boxes yesterday, and it was with the postcard depicted below. I like waxwork shows and I have visited this one on the Isle of Wight, although it was some years ago now. I think postcards like this make for an unusual addition to any royalty themed collection (and this is an interesting question, do royalty collectors collect all of the kings and queens across history, or do most just collect the modern royal family? I suspect it is mainly the latter).

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

OSBORN-SMITH WAX MUSEUM

BRADING, ISLE OF WIGHT

“THE ROYAL PRISONER”

KING CHARLES I

Published by

W. J. NIGH & SONS LTD

Ref: WJN 1392

“Scene: “The Royal Prisoner,” King Charles I, detained at Carisbrooke Castle, 1647, conferring with his ardent supporter Sir John Oglander of Nunwell, Brading, I.W”

(Text from reverse side of Postcard)

Although printed by a different publisher this has the same text on the reverse side as the card above. Despite clearly being the same tableau, you can see that the waxwork representatives are in a different position than on the top card. I am not even sure if they are ‘exactly’ the same waxworks either. This does mean that having both these cards allows you to see how an exhibit can change over time, and it is nice that different cards depict these changes.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

04/03/2018

ROGER BANNISTER …. RIP

Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister CH, CBE

23^rd March 1929 – 3^rd March 2018

British middle-distance runner and Doctor. Best known for being the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes.

HEADLINE postcard with artwork by Ted Hawkins.

03/03/2018

BOEING

737 – 300

AIR PORTUGAL

EUROPE – AFRICA – AMERICA – ASIA

Anonymous Publisher

Official airline promotional postcard

I recently acquired a selection of modern airline promotional postcards, for several different airlines. I liked this Air Portugal one as it depicts a plane which has a special paintwork applied for the EXPO 98 event. I suspect therefore that this postcard is from this period. There is a dedicated band of collectors who look out for these airline official postcards and they are much collected.

03/03/2018

THE FLINTSTONES

(UNTITLED POSTCARD)

DUFEX CARD

Published by

F. J. WARREN LIMITED

(Copyright date of 1994 – Hanna Barbera)

Ref: 503607

I recently showed some tiger themed ‘Dufex’ postcards. This card here is from my television collection and is just one of a range of Flintstone designs which were issued. This has the all over colour printing on the shiny surfaced card. The only main character missing from this illustration is Dino. These are delightful cards which can cost more than a pound from dealers these days, in fact I think £1.50 to £2 would be a good price for any of these (probably more on eBay, which is so often the case).

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

I only show this because you get a nice added Fred Flintstone logo at the top, which adds to the general collectability of these postcards

THE FLINTSTONES

(UNTITLED POSTCARD)

DUFEX CARD

Published by

F. J. WARREN LIMITED

(Copyright date of 1994 – Hanna Barbera)

Ref: 503604

This one depicts Fred and Barny surfing using crocodiles, looks a bit dangerous to me to be honest. This card, with the exception of the reference number, has an identical reverse layout to that shown above. This is the same for all the cards in this series.

THE FLINTSTONES

(UNTITLED POSTCARD)

DUFEX CARD

Published by

F. J. WARREN LIMITED

(Copyright date of 1994 – Hanna Barbera)

Ref: 503603

Another group image but at least Dino gets included in this one. Because of the shiny surface to these cards the scanner does not pick them up at their best. The cards themselves have much brighter colour to them than these scans depict. I have always liked ‘Dufex’ postcards, especially any with a television connection. They also produced some superb Disney themed cards which I will have to post at some future point.

03/03/2018

JERUSALEM

THE GOLDEN CITY

JERUSALEM SEEN FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

Published by

STAR CARDS, JERUSALEM

Ref: 1126

I have always wanted to visit Jerusalem, and I will have to make plans to do so sometime in the future as there is so much history to this city (I can thoroughly recommend the book ‘JERUSALEM – THE BIOGRAPHY’ by Simon Sebag Montefiore, which gives the entire history of this city from ancient times right through to the modern era. It is a superb book which I really enjoyed).

I suspect this card was originally bought as a souvenir of a visit to this city, although the owner clearly later decided to use it, or maybe another family member used it, as a competition entry postcard.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Here a 19p Machin Queens Head stamp has been used to post this card to a competition address. The stamp has been cancelled with a slogan cancel from Birmingham dated 24^th February 1995. It was the picture part of the slogan which caught my eye, as I did not previously have an example of this cancel for the ‘WORLD SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS – 7 – 12^TH MARCH 1995 – NEC BIRMINGHAM’. This maybe an unusual usage for a postcard of Jerusalem, but it is a nice example of this slogan cancellation.

PHOTOGRAPH

Cover of the book ‘Jerusalem-The Biography’, which I can highly recommend

03/03/2018

PANDA POSTCARD

QINGCHENGMOUNTAIN

From CHINA

Published by

ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION BRAND

Over two separate visits to the shop attached to the China Pavilion section of the ‘World Showcase’ located in the Walt Disney World Epcot Theme Park, I have bought a ‘number’ of Panda themed postcards. These two depicted here were bought in 2016. I think they are delightful, and I was a little surprised as much of the stuff on sale in any of the Disney Parks could be described as expensive, or at the higher end of cost, but these postcards were very reasonable and as a result I could buy quite a few without hitting my credit card too much. This was a bonus as some of the cards are really attractive. Also, the server who took my money explained to me where these images depicted and told me a little of the history behind the locations, which I thought was really neat, and an added extra.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

PANDA POSTCARD

JINLI STREET

From CHINA

Published by

ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION BRAND

This one is clearly from the same source as the one above, I did wonder if these illustrations were from some sort of children’s book as they have that sort of feel about them.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

PHOTOGRAPH

This is the postcard stand in the shop located in the China Pavilion of the Epcot Theme Park ‘World Showcase’ area. This from where the above panda postcards were bought. As you can see there were also other typical Chinese styled art postcards on sale.

02/03/2018

YOU’LL HAVE A SURPRISE WHEN

THIS CARD IS POSTED

Anonymous Publisher

Ref: 4277

(Made in Great Britain)

A postcard depicted on a postcard! I suspect this was considered, at the time, to be a naughty postcard, although today it seems quite tame in comparison. A nice simple postcard which was a recent acquisition in London at Stampex.

02/03/2018

PASSENGER TRAIN AT FRONTIERLAND

WATER TOWER

DISNEYLAND

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA

THE MAGIC KINGDOM

Official Postcard

Ref: C-8

“The Santa Fe & Disneyland passenger train makes a stop for water in Frontierland as she carries passengers on a scenic journey around the Magic Kingdom”

(Text from reverse side of postcard)

I thinks its been awhile since I posted a Disney postcard (I’ve checked, and it was back on the 18^th Feb), so I though another theme park related one could be posted today. I have opted for the Disneyland Park in California (which I have not visited) and a lovely postcard of the steam train which goes around the main park. The image itself has no immediate ‘Disney’ connections, unless you know the steam train depicted. I think this is a great Disney postcard and, also a great Transport – Train card as well.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Brown print reverse

02/03/2018

LONDON 2012

OLYMPIC GAMES

GAMES MAKER

‘THANK-YOU’ CARD

All those who officially helped-out to make the 2012 London Olympic Games go so well received special ‘Games Maker’ packs which included postcards, lanyards and other bits and pieces. They also received ‘Thank-you’ cards. These were postcard size, but unfortunately were plain backed, but they make for an interesting addition to a London 2012 collection. I depict one here.    

.

02/03/2018

DON McCULLIN IN HUE

VIETNAM

Photo by

NICK WHEELER – 1968

Published by

ACME CARDS, LONDON

Ref: DM18

I found this postcard whilst looking through one of my boxes yesterday. It is currently a topical image for me because for the last month I have been reading a book called ‘HUE 1968’ by Mark Bowden (author of ‘Black Hawk Down’). I bought this new book just before Christmas but did not start reading it until early February, purely by chance I have been reading it during the exact 50^th anniversary of the battle, which took place during the month of February 1968. I am on the last chapter the ‘Epilogue’. For those who do not know, and have not guessed, this was the battle where the US Marines had to take back the city of Hue after the North Vietnamese (Viet Cong) had taken it during what became known as the Tet Offensive, which became known as the turning point in the Vietnam War. It was a battle of street fighting, which the Marines were not used to as they had been taught how to fight in, and had been fighting in, the open country. This house to house stuff was new to them. Mark Bowden’s book is superb. It tells the story of Hue from both sides, and from the point of view of the civilians, who probably suffered the most. The Marines were to suffer their greatest loss of life during the battle for Hue, more than in any other engagement in Vietnam. Bowden’s greatest feat is to tell the whole story of the engagement whilst also reducing it down to the stories of those individuals who were there. It is these individual’s stories which give you a far greater feel for just how bad it was here. I can not recommend this book enough. If you interested in Military history, or the Vietman War in any way then this is a great book.

PHOTOGRAPH

Cover of the above mentioned book

01/03/2018

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

AUTUMN ILLUMINATIONS

MARINE PARADE

Published for

THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

By

THE FINE ARTS PUBLISHING Co., Ltd., LONDON

Here are two postcards which depict artwork of an Autumn Illuminations event held in my home town. These are not dated but I am aware that these were artwork designs submitted in the original plans for the very first Southend illuminations in 1935. I don’t know if the postcards are from that same year or just after, but the illumination lights were in place, and used right up into the 1970’s. The original plans show that the council proposed spending £20,000 (apparently not far off the equivalent of £1million today) on these.

This image depicts Marine Parade, the seafront to those who have visited here. I do remember illuminations from my youth, but it never looked as delightful as these old pieces of artwork appear.  

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

AUTUMN ILLUMINATIONS

THE JUBILEE ARCH

Published for

THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

By

THE FINE ARTS PUBLISHING Co., Ltd., LONDON

Strangely, I cannot find out when the Jubilee Arch was constructed but, I know this piece of artwork was commissioned for the 1935 proposal for the Autumn Illuminations, in the same package as the above postcard image was contained. In May 1935 King George V celebrated his silver jubilee. Was this arch erected in celebration of this event?  This is my favourite of these two images. The original proposal package for the illuminations, with these original paintings included, still exists and is with the council.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARDS

Both have the same identical reverse

There have no reference numbers – and the titles are of course printed on the front

PHOTOGRAPH

Cover of the

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

AUTUMN ILLUMINATIONS

Proposal

PHOTOGRAPH

Two of the pages from the proposal submission book  

PHOTOGRAPH

Two of the pages from the proposal submission book  

01/03/2018

WHAT’S IMPORTANT FOR YOU?

AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

CENUS AUSTRALIA

2016

Published by

AVANTCARD AUSTRALIA

Ref: #20014

Here in the UK we have a ‘national census’ every ten years. I assume the one in Australia is similar, although it may be done more often than ours (or less, of course). In 2016 they held one and this postcard was a free one which was used to promote the various ways this could be completed.

I have looked at all the little images here on the front, but no television set. There is a roll of film and a computer games (gameboy?) console, which you would a TV set for, but no actual television set – that’s probably no bad thing though as TV should never be too important to anyone (and I say this despite collecting television memorabilia)

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN WINTER

We are still in Winter, and it certainly looks like it outside my window this morning. As I am typing this the snow is heavily falling again onto all the ground snow which remains from the last two days of snow! It has been many years since I last saw snow in Essex which was this heavy (our placement normally means that we see petty much no, or very light show, and not every year either).    

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN SPRING

I need to get a copy of this book for the end of March. I have always loved the animal and wildlife Ladybird books, but as stated above, I do not have these ones depicted here.