16/11/2018
GRAF ZEPPELIN FLOWN CARD
Official Postcard
I have scanned onto my computer the postcards in my collection which have been flown on the Graf Zeppelin, Graf Zeppelin II and Hindenburg Zeppelin Airships. The good thing about these items is that there is a lot of printed information relating to them which allows me to give you detailed write-ups on these items:
LZ 127 “GRAF ZEPPELIN”
UEBER DER LUFTSCHIFFHALLE
[About the Air Ship Hall]
Published/Printed(?) by
Graph. Runft(?) – u. Berlagsanftalt U. Weber & Co.,
Stuttgart. Nr. 60445
This is a superb photographic postcard of the Graf Zeppelin over the zeppelin airship hangers, so I assume photographed at Friedrichshafen, as this was the hanger location for the zeppelins at this time.
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
This postcard was carried and posted on board the Graf Zeppelin on the flight from Friedrichshafen to Berlin on the 23rd August 1930. Two 1930 Evacuation of the Rhineland by Allied Forces over-printed stamps (SG 460) have been applied along with two Eagle air mail stamps. These have been cancelled with the on board ‘LUFTSCHIFF GRAF ZEPPELIN’ double circle cancellations dated 23.8.1930. Upon arrival the mail was removed and was cancelled with a ‘BERLIN – STAAKEN’ date stamp also dated 23.8.30. The card then travelled across Berlin and received a ‘BERLIN C (L 2 *)’ cancellation date stamp dated 24.8.30. The card also has a light blue/grey ‘MIT LUFTPOST’ (By Air) label and has a red boxed Berlin airmail cachet.
16/11/2018
ZEPPELIN AIR RAID ON SOUTHEND
MAY 10TH, 1915
(Left) CROMWELL BOARDING HOUSE –
(Centre) HOUSE IN NORTH ROAD (where Mrs. Whitwell was killed)
(Right) TWO HOUSES GUTTED IN WEST STREET
Published by
ROTARY PHOTO, E. C.
ROTARY PHOTOGRAPHIC SERIES
Ref: V 19
My home town of Southend lies at the mouth of the River Thames which was a clear signpost into the centre of London. In both world wars it was flown over by bombers and in the first world war also by the early Zeppelin airships on their way into the London airspace. Southend was also considered a target in its-own-right as it could easily be found, because of its location, and because there were military barracks here nearby. Southend was specifically targeted overnight between the 9th and 10th May 1915 by the zeppelin airship LZ. 38, captained by Hauptmann Erich Linnarz. The zeppelin made two successful bomb runs over Southend dropping nearly 100 bombs, which were apparently mainly incendiary bombs. Although considerable damage was caused there was only one fatality, Mrs Whitwell in North Road. This postcard was issued soon afterwards and has become a popular postcard with local history collectors like me.
(I noticed that yesterday was a very American themed day on the webpage, although not by design, and not that I make any apologies for this either as I am still very much working with the postcards I bought whilst in America on my recent holiday, so the cards are more current to me – But, I thought I should show you at least one card today which is not about America!)
16/11/2018
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)
Concept Art
By
GLEN KEANE (born 1954)
Published by Disney for exclusive sale in the:
THE WALT DISNEY FAMILY MUSEUM
SAN FRANCISCO
I had the pleasure of visiting this museum on my very last day in San Francisco recently. It is a fascinating place to visit for anyone, but if you are interested in the world of Walt Disney, as Jo and I am, then it is also a place full of iconic material connected with Walt and his life and films.
The gift shop, at the end of the museum’s layout, has a fantastic, and large, range of exclusive postcards on sale. This includes a range of artist sketches and drawings from the animated cartoon films. Some of these are quite unusual, like this one which depicts a concept design for the beast which makes him look like a Mandrill primate. Cards like this add greatly to my Disney themed collection.
16/11/2018
YA GOTTA MAKE CALLS
IF YA WANTA GET RESULTS
Published by
FRASHERS, INC. POMONA, CALIFORNIA
‘A FRASHERS FOTO CARD – SCENIC PHOTOS OF THE WEST
Ref: J-116
This was another of the older postcards I picked up from a box in a second-hand bookshop in Flagstaff, Arizona. It appealed to and had the look of being an unusual postcard issue. Having looked at the reverse side, and I’m no expert when it comes to American issues, I think this is from around the 1940’s – 1950’s era, probably post WWII, but potentially could have been issued whilst the war was on, but for some reason I feel this is from the period after the war ended (but as I said, I’m no expert). It is a great postcard for anyone who collects cartoon cats on postcard and anyone interested in American cartoon postcards. It was worth every cent of $1.25 (about £1).
16/11/2018
MEN WORKING
“HEY! @!?”
Published by
NOBLE, INC
In their:
HUMOR CARDS series [sic -American spelling]
Ref: 409
I take this to be a police officer, one of those American city horse-back officers which were once quite often seen, I believe (there is one in a great scene in the film ‘Crocodile Dundee’). I found this card in a box of postcards at the back of a second-hand book shop in Flagstaff, Arizona.
15/11/2018
COLORFUL MACAWS, PARROT JUNGLE,
SOUTH MIAMI, FLA [Florida]
Published by
DADE COUNTY NEWSDEALERS SUPPLY CO., MIAMI, FLA
Printed by
GENUINE CURTEICH-CHICAGO “C. T. ART-COLORTONE” POST CARD
Ref: DC-100
(8A-H1063 – Stamp Box Reference number)
Just outside Flagstaff, Arizona there is a reasonable sized shopping centre. We visited here to have breakfast, but I found a large antiques shop which I had to have a look inside. Despite being a lovely sized shop, it only had one postcard amongst the stock. I managed to find this and depict it here. It was only $1, which was a reasonable price. When I bought it, I had a chat with the owner who was surprised that I managed to find the card as he thought he had removed them all back to his house where he was selling them on eBay and his internet shop. So, here is that card I found. I was in Arizona for the very first time buying a Florida postcard, which is of course located at the other end of America in the opposite direction and a state which I had previously visited many times. It’s a strange world.
15/11/2018
THE FOURTH CHURCH
CHORAL SOCIETY
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2018
A CONCERT COMMEMORATING
THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE END OF WORKD WAR 1
Printed on behalf of The Fourth Church
Large A5 Sized Postcard
On our last day in Chicago Jo and I went for a morning walk and came across the Fourth Church at 126 E. Chestnut Street. This lovely little church was just around the corner from the hotel we were staying in. It was a delightful church with a smashing stain glassed window, several in fact.
Whilst we were inside the church, I found this free postcard which appealed to me because of its connection with the recent 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1 and its depiction of a field of poppies. I was also surprised at how big and how well printed this postcard was.
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
There is a lot of information contained on the reverse side of this postcard
15/11/2018
ATSINA WARRIORS
Photograph by
EDWARD S. CURTIS
Published by
BEAUTYWAY
Flagstaff, Arizona
(Cooperative Publisher with Museums, Parks and Travel Organisations)
Ref: D56
Large A5 Sized Postcard
“Atsina is one of the most poignant Edward S. Curtis photographs, symbolizing the passing of old meanings, old ways, old environments.”
“Edward Sheriff Curtis is without peer as the photographic chronicler of the fading wqys of the native North American. For thirty years, 1898 to 1928, he travelled the plains, Southwest, Northwest and Alaska for images that will be treasured for a millennium”
(Text blocks from reverse side of Postcard)
On my travels across North America I had expected to come across far more Native American related postcards than I did. Having said that I did find some very nice ones, especially the photographic ones. This very large postcard was one in a series I found in a trading post which specialised in Native American merchandise, amongst many other things. The trading post was located in a place called Cameron and it is a well known tourist stop off and has ben a trading post since 1916.
15/11/2018
‘Advice from a …’
POSTCARD SERIES
LARGE A5 SIZED POSTCARDS
When I was in America on my most recent holiday, I came across this series of large postcards in one single shop called: CABIN FEVER (122 S. MAIN STREET, P.O.BOX 1189, BRECKENRIDGE, COLORADO). When I saw these, I fell in love with them, and as a result this little selection (I say ‘Little’ with a sense of irony) came my way for what was quite a lot of money (over $60 if I remember correctly!) The designs were also available as bookmarks, but it was these lovely postcards which really caught my eye. Although the front designs are clearly from the same series these cards come with two different reverse types, which I will depict below and will describe as ‘REVERSE TYPE A’ and ‘REVERSE TYPE B’. I will then let you know which reverse type was used on each of these cards.
The line of text on the front that reads ‘Advice from a’ is either in shiny gold ink or shiny silver ink depending on the design.
Advice from a
(Gold Ink)
BISON
Published by
YOUR TRUE NATURE INC
An ‘Advice From’ product
Ref: PCADVBIS
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE BISON POSTCARD
I am going to title this reverse side as
REVERSE TYPE A
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE BEAVER POSTCARD
I am going to title this reverse side as
REVERSE TYPE B
Advice from
(Silver Ink)
SASQUATCH
Published by
YOUR TRUE NATURE INC
An ‘Advice From’ product
Ref: PCADVSASQ
REVERSE TYPE A
This is obviously the odd one out from this series as this is a … dare I say it … fictional creature, or if you like a creature that has not yet been confirmed as real (and again, if you like – yet), although there are a lot of television programmes about this creature, which is probably much better known as ‘Bigfoot’. I don’t have many ‘Bigfoot’ related postcards, despite being very interested in the stories around this creature. This is a cracking postcard and one of my favourites.
14/11/2018
DRAWING OF A HUMAN
AND GORILLA SKELETON
First published in:
‘TRANSACTONS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON’
By
RICHARD OWEN IN 1866
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Museums are such a great source for unusual images on postcards. This is a fascinating early drawing of a comparison between a human skeleton and a gorilla skeleton which was first published in 1866. Although the Natural History Museum is renowned for its stuffed animal collection and collection of animal specimens it also has an extensive library of books, documents, prints and other written and printed material all themed on the natural world.
I bought this great postcard on my last visit to the Natural History Museum in London earlier this year.
14/11/2018
JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE
‘Happy Birthday’
(Mermaid in a bottle)
By
CORINNE DEMUYNCK
Published by
EDITIONS CARTES D’ART
Ref: G.P 668
My fascination with Mermaid postcards has been mentioned before (along with the story of why I got into them), so it will come as no surprise to know I could not resist this one which I saw and picked up in France. This is a delightful one.
14/11/2018
BALLET STICKERS
By
CORINNE DEMUYNCK
NOVELTY STICKERS POSTCARD
Published by
CARTES D’ART
EDITIONS CARTES D’ART
Ref: ST 293
SERIE: CARTES-STICKERS/STICKERS-CARDS
Ballet is collected separately as a theme and can be quite popular, it is certainly the most popular form of dance on postcards. Here each of the dancers is a separate sticker along with the title circle top right. All the other little pictorial additions, bows and hearts, are not stickers on this occasion.
STICKERS ELEPHANTS
ELEPHANTS STICKERS
By
BERNARD BITTLER
Published by
CARTES D’ART
EDITIONS CARTES D’ART
Ref: ST 314
SERIE: CARTES-STICKERS/STICKERS-CARDS
This is one of my favourite sticker postcards by this French company, probably because of the animal connection. Each individual elephant is a separate sticker.
JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
By
CORINNE LEMERLE
NOVELTY STICKERS POSTCARD
Published by
CARTES D’ART
EDITIONS CARTES D’ART
Ref: ST 337
SERIE: CARTES-STICKERS/STICKERS-CARDS
A ‘Happy Birthday’ postcard with lots of animal stickers on it. This French company do a range of different sticker themed postcards and I think they are very collectible, although they can cost 2 euros to 2.50 euro each (which I think is not too bad considering the quality of these postcards)
BISOUS-HOU-HOU
SWEET KISSES
By
CORINNE DEMUYNCK
NOVELTY STICKERS POSTCARD
Published by
CARTES D’ART
EDITIONS CARTES D’ART
Ref: ST 215
SERIE: CARTES-STICKERS/STICKERS-CARDS
This postcard is made up of lots of little individual owl stickers and is another excellent postcard issued by this French company. I have not seen these on sale in the UK yet, all my copies have been obtained on holidays in France.
PARIS
EIFFEL TOWERS
NOVELTY ‘STICKERS’ POSTCARD
Published by
EDITOR
STICK CARTE STICKER
This card is matt surfaced (so it does not have a shiny coated surface) but, the word PARIS and some of the adornments to a few of the Eiffel Towers is printed in shiny silver paint, so parts of the card shine when titled in the light.
I collect Eiffel Tower postcards as a separate theme (although this card could also fit into my ‘Novelty’ collection because of the sticker element) and this card is probably one of the more unusual cards in that collection.
JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
By
SOPHIE DOLLE
NOVELTY STICKERS POSTCARD
Published by
CARTES D’ART
EDITIONS CARTES D’ART
Ref: ST 336
SERIE: CARTES-STICKERS/STICKERS-CARDS
Each animal is in its own egg shaped individual sticker and the text banner across the centre is also a removable sticker. Happy Birthday cards seem to be the most popular topic for these novelty sticker postcards, also animals appear a lot in these designs.
MES ENGINS RIGOLOS
MY FUNNY MACHINES
By
MARION BILLET
Published by
CARTES D’ART
EDITIONS CARTES D’ART
Ref: ST 343
SERIE: CARTES-STICKERS/STICKERS-CARDS
Another superb ‘Sticker’ postcard from this French company. Everything on this card, except for some reason the triangular road signs and arrows are removable stickers, even the six individual cones bottom right.
14/11/2018
ISOMETRIC PROJECTION OF ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL
Drawn by
R. B. BROOK-GRAVES
And
W. GODFREY ALLEN
Pen and Ink on paper
Britain, 1923 – 28
ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, LONDON
SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN (1623 – 1723)
[There is an error in the text on this card because Wren was born in 1632 not 1623 as is printed in the informative text on the reverse side – I suspect the 2 and 3 were transposed in error]
BUILT 1675 – 1711
Published by the
VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM
Ref: 087535
This postcard depicts a lovely early document relating to a famous and iconic London structure. Postcards of St Paul’s are common and can still be found on street souvenir stands and in London shops to this day, but this image is a far more unusual one.
14/11/2018
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
SKELETOR
Published by
ATHENA INTERNATIONAL
Ref: 334236
This is Skeletor as portrayed by Frank Langella in the 1987 feature film version of the animated television cartoon series ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’. I have seen at least three copies of this postcard (I have two myself) and I have always assumed that there must have been a postcard for the He-Man character, as played in the film by Dolph Lundgren, but I have never seen one. It does seem logical that if you were going to put Skeletor on a card you would put He-Man on one as well, wouldn’t you?
14/11/2018
RMS LUSITANIA
IN SERVICE 1907 – 1915
MAY 1915 DURING WW1
LUSITANIA WAS TORPEDOED
BY GERMAN U-BOAT, U-20.
AND SUNK WITH A LOSS OF
1,191 LIVES
CoIR. CARDS
Ref: 2015.CR.185
This postcard was issued in 2015 which was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania during WW1. I have a small collection of Lusitania related postcard’s, so it was nice to find one commemorating its sinking 100 years ago.
14/11/2018
MUHAMMAD ALI
(CASSIUS CLAY Jr)
Died June 3rd Aged 74
Published by
CoIR. CARDS
Ref: 2016.CR.207
I think this might have been the only postcard I came across which commemorated the life of Muhammad Ali in the year of his death, 2016. A nice postcard and another example of the type of card that this company is renowned for.
14/11/2018
ST MARY MAGDALENE PARISH CHURCH,
RODBOROUGH.
CAMEO OF
‘THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE’
FROM THE AWDRY WINDOW.
The gift of Reverend Wilbert Awdry, OBE
Designed by
ALFRED FISHER, FMGP, FRSA,
In
1998
Published by
E & L FILM PARTNERSHIP
Possibly this is one of the strangest entries in my ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ postcard collection. This depicts a stained-glass window based on the famous train stories of Mr Awdry himself. I have a nice sized collection of Thomas the Tank Engine postcards because these have a television connection (my eldest so loved the Thomas TV series, it was what made him such a train fanatic as an adult).
14/11/2018
GREENHAM COMMON PEACE CAMP 1984
RALLY, YELLOW GATE
By
TABITHA SALMON, 1985
Published by
FREEHAND EDITIONS
Produced by
THE CREATIVE CONNECTION
Ref: G.C.1
The Greenham Common Peace Camp was set up outside an American Airbase here in the UK after it was announced that cruise missiles were to be deployed here. The camp was, I believe, in the majority populated by women and here in the UK their protests were widely reported on.
TEXT AREA FROM REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
This gives details of what is being depicted in the postcards image
GREENHAM COMMON PEACE CAMP 1984
EVICTION, VIOLET GATE (APRIL)
By
TABITHA SALMON, 1985
Published by
FREEHAND EDITIONS
Produced by
THE CREATIVE CONNECTION
Ref: G.C.2
I have previously, probably several times, mentioned my interest in the nuclear and atomic weapons story, and through that the story of the anti-nuclear weapons movement and protests. During the 1980’s this subject was covered heavily by postcards and this card, and its companion one above, were part of this story.
14/11/2018
DR TORREY
MR C. M. ALEXANDER
ALBERT HALL
“THE GLORY SONG”
From Alexander’s New Revival Hymns No. 1
Published by
A. & G. TAYLOR
(70 & 78, QUEEN VISTORIA STREET., E.C. – 153 REGENT STREET., W)
In their:
“REALITY SERIES”
I picked this up for £1 from an interesting box of cheap postcards but if you want one, I found one on sale today on the internet on an American sales site priced at $85 – it is also on eBay for the same amount - which is way too much for this card, way too much! – there is also a closed sale for one of these where the card sold for £12, which still seems too much to me – the copy I have is mint, but the copy on sale on eBay is used and the postmark is date 1905, which helps me date my copy a bit better. I didn’t know too much about the people depicted here, but the internet has shown me that Charles McCallon Alexander was born in 1867 in Tennessee (he passed away in the UK in 1920 and is buried in Birmingham). He was clearly a religious man and a writer of gospel hymns, lots and lots of hymns, which is where I think the popularity of this card comes from. It looks like in some circles I picked up a bargain here.
14/11/2018
GERMAN AIRSHIP “HINDENBURG” (L.Z. 129)
Unknown Publisher
This smaller than normal sized postcard depicts a painting of the zeppelin airship ‘Hindenburg’, the L.Z. 129. This postcard was issued whilst the Hindenburg was still doing trans-Atlantic flights, so it is a contemporary issue. I have a small collection of mail that was carried on the Hindenburg and am always interested in any unusual postcards which depict the airship.
14/11/2018
GRAF ZEPPELIN FLOWN CARD
Official Postcard
I have scanned onto my computer the postcards in my collection which have been flown on the Graf Zeppelin, Graf Zeppelin II and Hindenburg Zeppelin Airships. The good thing about these items is that there is a lot of printed information relating to them which allows me to give you detailed write-ups on these items:
This postcard was posted from Vienna to America using two Austrian airmail stamps; the scarce 1926 3 S red-brown issue (SG 633 – 2014 catalogue value £85) and the 50g blue air stamp (SG 629 – 2014 catalogue value £19). The stamps have been cancelled with Vienna (‘Wien 68’) double ring date cancels dated 6th May 1929. There is also a Vienna ‘Wien 1 – Flugpost’ double ring date stamp dated 7th May 1929 showing onward travel. A Friedrichshafen double ring ‘Luftpost’ date stamp was applied on 15th May 1929. The actual Graf Zeppelin flight that this card was carried on commenced on the 16th May 1929. This card was carried on the Graf Zeppelin from Friedrichshafen on what was to be the first America flight. A blue circular Graf Zeppelin ‘AMERIKAFAHT 1929’ cachet was applied. Unfortunately, this flight was interrupted, and the airship had to land at Ceurs in France and did not fly to America. Eventually the Graf Zeppelin had to return to Friedrichshafen. A red single line text ‘Delay’ cachet was applied to mail which was onboard which reads in German as ‘DELIVERY DELAY CAUSED BY INTERUPTION DURING THE 1. AMRICA FLIGHT’. This mail was eventually carried on the 1st to 4th August 1929 Graf Zeppelin America Flight and was cancelled at New York on 5th August 1929, the day after its arrival.