26/04/2019

BRUSSELS

THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

Published by

NELS photothill

Ern. Thrill, Bruxelles

I have just left Munich on my way to Vienna, but I was in Bruxelles (Brussels) yesterday so I think this is an appropriate postcard for todays post.

So far, I have been very impressed with the wifi access on the trains in Germany and Belgium and this has allowed me to post cards to the webpage and keep things moving. This is a lovely photograph and although the date stamp is a bit indistinct, I believe this was posted in 1953 as the stamp used is SG 759 which was used between 1936 and 1956, so 1953 seems the most likely year with what can be made out of the postal date.  

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

25/04/2019

CHARLIE CHAPLIN. 1920

LAUBERT .40. PLACE DE BROUCKERE BRUXELLES

Published by

FERNAND HAZAN

Ref: 1516 C CHARLIE CHAPLIN 1920

I have chosen this card today because we spent a little time in and around the railway station in Bruxelles today, so when I was looking through my pre-scanned postcard images and saw this one with the mention of Bruxelles I knew that this was todays card.

Obviously. this is a film related poster postcard, but it is one I had not seen before coming across it in Europe on a much previous holiday. I think it is a lovely card.

24/04/2019

SOUTH COAST

JAMAICA

SCENES FROM JAMAICA’S SOUTH:

BLACK RIVER – BAMBOO

CROCODILE SAFARI – Y.S. FALLS

Published by

ISLAND IMAGES POSTCARDS

Ref: JA081

Last year I visited Jamaica for the first time. I was only there for one day as part of a cruise I was on, but I did get to visit a plantation house (where I had high tea and jerk chicken). I also found a couple of nice postcards for my collection including this very nice multi-view one. This one had the added- bonus of an image of a crocodile, and you know I do like my animal postcards.

As this one was a holiday postcard from last years trip it seemed an appropriate post as I sit here in my London hotel room waiting for the start of this year’s holiday tomorrow.

23/04/2019

LOCH NESS MONSTER

THE FAUNA, HORNA & HOOFA OF SCOTLAND

SERIES: No 10

Printed in Scotland

Publisher not named

Well, its been eight days since my last posting, but in that time we have moved house (and like all house moves this was a nightmare of boxes, crates, removal men, lorries and lost and found items – we lost a set of car keys, a pair of glasses, the sky TV box, a set of house keys and one or two other items, gladly all recovered since!!). We also had no internet at the new house for the first five days (all sorted out today, although the fitter left a hole in the wall the size of Alaska!), but as we now do have this I can post something today (Hurray, I hear you all say…)

So, what to put on? I decided to go completely off-the-wall with this Loch Ness Monster poem card… is it just the alcohol that causes visions of Nessie?   

15/04/2019

ROGER MOORE

FOTO – FICHA OBSEQUIO “ROMANTICA”

2^ND SERIES

FOTO (Photo) WARNER BROS

This is from my ‘Television’ collection. Its not a postcard, more an information backed publicity card, the type of fan card which was issued during the 1960’s for those who were then interested in the television and film world. Many items like this were official items released by the film or TV company or studio. There was the added-bonus here that this sort of material also worked as publicity or promotion for either a specific programme or an actor. In this case no specific film or programme is mentioned, but I suspect this item is from the same period as Moore’s television series ‘The Saint’, thus my interest in this item.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE CARD ITEM

13/04/2019

BUTLIN’S BOGNOR REGIS

CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND

Official Butlin’s Postcard

Published by

JOHN HINDE LTD

Printed in Ireland – John Hinde Original

Ref: 3B 42

When I was young, we had several holidays in the Butlin’s camp located in Minehead. This card is from Bognor Regis, where I never visited, but certain things remained the same across the various parks. One of these was the giant male ‘lumberjack’ type figure that can be seen here on the far right. The building structures and colours used also appeared across the parks which means that an image like this brings back memories of my time in Butlin’s back in the early 1970s.

Today whilst attending the Canterbury Collectors Fair as a dealer I had a nice conversation with a collector of theme park postcards. We both reminisced about our younger days on Butlin’s holidays.

This is one of the things I like about being a dealer (yeah, I know, this is just my second outing as one). Chatting with fellow collectors and passing on information about cards and some of the stories behind them is one of the joys about being a dealer.

Our move is going ahead well, but we are surrounded by boxes at-the-moment and still packing like crazy. I have no idea how the next few days will go, but I will try and post some cards until the internet goes. Once settled in the new house, and the internet is set up, postings to the website will resume (at least until I go on holiday again, which is the week after!!!)

10/04/2019

LAUREL AND HARDY

ANIMATED CARTOON SERIES POSTCARDS

Untitled Postcard Images

HANNA-BARBERA

and

LARRY HARMON PRODUCTIONS

Copyright 1974

LARRY HARMON

Because these are untitled, I have come up with descriptive titles based around what Laurel and Hardy are doing in the images:

 LAUREL AND HARDY WITH SHEEP

HANNA-BARBERA

and

LARRY HARMON PRODUCTIONS

Copyright 1974

LARRY HARMON

These great cartoon postcard images are based on the American animated series based on the famous film stars from the black and white era, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The series was from the animation studio ‘Hanna-Barbera’ alongside Larry Harmon Productions (whose name appears on the reverse side of each of these cards by the copyright year date of 1974). Larry Harmon was the person who developed the series. He started in 1961 whilst Stan Laurel was still alive, although he was not greatly involved in the series. In total 156 animated shorts were made with Harmon voicing the animated Stan Laurel (Oliver Hardy was voiced by Jim MacGeorge). Each of these shorts only lasted 5 minutes with the original series first being aired on television in 1966.

I can remember watching some of these when I was young, so they definitely-reached the UK, and as the two postal used copies I have were posted from Germany they must also have reached other locations in Europe. I also strongly suspect that these cards originated here in Europe rather than being from America, the source country for the original cartoons.         

(Far Left or above left) LAUREL AND HARDY ON TANDEM CYCLE

(Near Left or above right) LAUREL AND HARDY ON SAIL BOAT

HANNA-BARBERA

and

LARRY HARMON PRODUCT-IONS

Copyright 1974

LARRY HARMON

LAUREL AND HARDY PLAYING CRICKET

HANNA-BARBERA

and

LARRY HARMON PRODUCTIONS

Copyright 1974

LARRY HARMON

I have no idea how many cards were produced in this series, but I doubt I have been so lucky as to have found them all. I have also never met anyone who has many, or in fact any, of these. I don’t think the postcards were on sale in the UK so the few that I have picked up have either come directly from a European postcard dealer or from a UK dealer who had recently obtained the cards from a European dealer. The cards I am showing you here are the only ones I have ever seen, and you can be assured that if I ever see any more, I will buy them. I love these.

LAUREL AND HARDY AT THE BEACH

HANNA-BARBERA

and

LARRY HARMON PRODUCTIONS

Copyright 1974

LARRY HARMON

LAUREL AND HARDY IN A STORM

HANNA-BARBERA

and

LARRY HARMON PRODUCTIONS

Copyright 1974

LARRY HARMON

LAUREL AND HARDY HAVING A PICNIC IN FIELD WITH WILD BULL

HANNA-BARBERA

and

LARRY HARMON PRODUCTIONS

Copyright 1974

LARRY HARMON

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Posted from Germany in 1988

LAUREL AND HARDY ON BEACH RELAXING ON DECKCHAIRS

HANNA-BARBERA

and

LARRY HARMON PRODUCTIONS

Copyright 1974

LARRY HARMON

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Posted from Germany in 1988 (I think – I can’t quite make out the date on the cancel)

REVERSE SIDE OF ONE OF THE ABOVE POSTCARDS

Mint reverse side

08/04/2019

VALLS D’ANDORRA

Alt. 2,407 m.

PORT d’ENVALIRA

Published by

FISA I.G. (BARCELONA)

ESCUDO DE ORO M.C. ISCLA

This is a great postcard which features a scene from the tiny independent principality of Andorra, located between France and Spain in the Pyrenes mountains. The stamps depicted are not real stamps but images which form part of the postcard image (a nice addition for anyone who is interested in stamps). I bought the card because of these stamp images.

07/04/2019

UNTITLED

Design by

MONIKA FORSBERG

Copyright 2019

Published by

LAGOM DESIGN

Ref: 3155

Another new(ish) postcard which I found in a paperchase shop recently.

It is just a quick posting tonight because things are a bit busy at the moment because we are again moving house. We should be in the new premises in just two weeks so we are packing like crazy at-the-moment, and do we have a lot to pack up!

This move also means that postings will be disrupted for several weeks especially when we get into the new house as the internet will not be up for a couple of days.

04/04/2019

MCM COMIC-CON

UNTITLED

By

DEVEREAUX (2017)

Published by

DEVERAUX

snoozingbox@gmail.com

Instagram: clouddevereaux

Twitter: @Deverfro

Blog: Devereaux-doodles.tumblr.com

This unusual postcard was the only free postcard I picked up at the recent comic-con. I ‘actually’ like octopus, but I’m not sure it looks quite so appetising in this piece of artwork. Great postcard though.

03/04/2019

YOURS IN HASTE

By

DONALD McGILL

Ref: No. 24

Donald McGill is probably the best known of the comic postcard artists of the last century. He produced a prodigious amount of postcard designs of which this is one. This one is a lot less saucy than some designs but as it contains a letter box it does have collectability.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This card was posted from Blackpool and received a wavy line machine cancellation: BLACKPOOL LANCS – 12 SEP 1938 – A

03/04/2019

MCM COMIC-CON

UNTITLED

‘BATMAN & ROBIN’

Plain-backed card

Artwork by

NICK GONZO

Nick was another of the artists I met at the recent Comic-Con event. I liked this Batman image by him so bought the card and had Nick sign the reverse side for me.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE CARD

Signed in person by the artist

BUSINESS CARD

GONZO INDUSTRIAL

NICK GONZO

03/04/2019

LASSIE EN JEFF

Unknown Netherlands Publisher

Ref: COLOR SERIE No 114

I have a nice little collection of 1960’s Dutch issued postcards all related to television programmes of the time. This one shows a publicity photograph of the famous film and TV collie dog character, Lassie. Shown here with him is the character called Jeff from the television ‘Lassie’ series from the late 1950’s. Jeff was played by the child actor Tommy Rettig in the first three series of the CBS programme between 1954 and 1957. This particular postcard was posted in the early 1960’s (there is a hand-written year date which could be 1964).

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

03/04/2019

ARNOTT’S

TIM TAM

DANGEROUS LIASIONS

BLACK FOREST FANTASY

ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DESIRED

Published by

AVANTCARD AUSTRALIA

Ref: #9524

Issued 2005

Here in the UK we don’t have TIM TAMS, but I have heard of them and if I ever get to Australia, I will be trying them (maybe not the Chilli one though, or this Back Forrest ‘cherry’ flavoured one as I am not a fan of cherry – I will probably stick with the plain one, or the Creamy Truffle one at the bottom). Wikipedia describes a Tim Tam as two malted biscuits which have a centre of a light chocolate cream filling and which is entirely covered with textured milk chocolate. This description describes a biscuit which would be right up my street. I love chocolate biscuits. This advert, and the two similar ones below, have a very sexual content, but hey, this is from Australia after all. I also like the fact that each flavour has a different tag line, which is shown in the main headings for each card.  

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Black Forest Fantasy flavour

ARNOTT’S

TIM TAM

DANGEROUS LIASIONS

CHILLI CHOC FLING

LUST ISN’T A NIBBLE, IT’S A BITE

Published by

AVANTCARD AUSTRALIA

Ref: #9522

Issued 2005

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Chilli Choc Fling flavour

ARNOTT’S

TIM TAM

DANGEROUS LIASIONS

CREAMY TRUFFLE TEMPTATION

PASSION MADE EDIBLE

Published by

AVANTCARD AUSTRALIA

Ref: #9523

                            Issued 2005

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Creamy Truffle Temptation flavour

02/04/2019

MCM COMIC-CON 2019

RICH DAVIES

DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION

This recent Comic-Con was the first time I have come across the artist Rich Davies, but his work is superb and covers a lot of my own personal interests. I love Superhero comics, books and films and a large selection of his designs cover the Marvel films which are probably my favourite, although I do also like the DC Comic book film adaptations as well, especially anything Batman related.

These cards are a little larger than the normal postcard size, but a bit smaller than A5, and are a nice size for the images depicted. They were also probably the best bargain as well because these were just £1 each and are printed on superb quality card. Most of these have a type of postcard back, but a few have full information backs, but they are non the worse, or any less collectible for this.

Many of these have the appearance of being a film poster, and some of them may even have been official posters (or perhaps artwork for DVD release or similar). The cards are not titled beyond any wording incorporated into the design. My headings are just the film titles, were appropriate.   

CAPTAIN AMERICA

THE FIRST AVENGER

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

BLACK PANTHER

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

CAPTAIN AMERICA:

CIVIL WAR

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

No film title shown here but, judging from the characters depicted this has-to-be artwork related to this Captain America film.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

My first postcard related to this recent Marvel character feature film release (still not seen this yet, but must watch it before the next Avengers film is released)

SPIDER-MAN

HOMECOMING

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

DOCTOR STRANGE

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

SUPERMAN

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

This poster like design is for the first of the Christopher Reeve starring Superman films, released back in 1978. The artwork captures the likeness of Reeve extremely well.

BATMAN

RA’S AL GHUL – THE JOKER – BANE

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

I like this one a lot

BATMAN V SUPERMAN

DAWN OF JUSTICE

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

DC JUSTICE LEAGUE

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

Cyborg, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman and the Flash

(Superman turns up later in this part of the films story, so does not appear here)

STAR WARS

THE LAST JEDI

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

Gotta love any new Star Wars cards

STAR WARS

THE FORCE AWAKENS

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

ROGUE ONE

A STAR WARS STORY

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

My favourite of these Star Wars poster designs. This one captures the final battle scenes really-well, from what is an above par Star Wars movie.

INDIANA JONES

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

I loved this film when it came out. It is difficult to remember now just how good and action packed this original Indiana Jones film was. I saw it at the cinema and was blown away by it. It has remained a favourite.

STAR TREK

BEYOND

Artwork by

RICH DAVIES

I have a large collection of Star Trek postcards, mainly, but by no means exclusively, connected to the various television series’ which have been made. Because of my interest in the TV series’ I also pick up any postcards which relate to the now many film versions.

BUSINESS CARDS

The reverse side of these cards are all the same, as per the one far right. There were a number of different images used on the front of these business cards, so I picked up a handful. I liked these ‘Game of Thrones’ character designs and would have loved it if these had been available on the larger postcards (but sadly they were not).  

BUSINESS CARDS

These are the same designs as on some of the postcards above

02/04/2019

MCM COMIC-CON 2019

UNTITLED

‘MANGA GIRL’

Artwork by

DAWNIE-CHAN

Postcard Published by the Artist Herself

Bare-with me, because I am probably going to post a range of the cards I picked up at the recent Comic-Con event over the next week or so, and I have already done so over the past few days as well. This is because, like any collector, I am currently fascinated with my most recent buys.

This is another lovely example of an artist drawn card sold by the artist on her stall at Comic-Con. As this is typical of the type, I think it is time again (I did this last year for the November events postings on the webpage) to go through what you will probably find on these artist stalls/stands.

Firstly, and a little sadly, a large-number of the cards are plain backed, but thankfully not exclusively so. I personally still like these plain-backed cards as it allows you to play around a bit. As you will have seen there has been a popular-trend over the last few years for the artists to also have stickers of their work available on their stalls alongside their other items (not all the artists have cards, some just do prints, larger pictures and other items – you just have to go along the line of stalls and check their sales).

With these plain backed cards, you can apply one of these stickers and then get the artist to sign somewhere on this same side. If there are no stickers, and the cards are plain backed, I often ask, if the design allows, for the signature to go on the front.

The cards cost anywhere between £1 to £3 (some other ones can be £5, but I tend to avoid these and mainly stick to the £1 to £2 priced cards). The stickers seem to be £1 each, but the signatures, at the present time, are free, so it costs around £2 - £3 for each of the cards I pick up. This can build up when you visit something like 20 artist stalls (sometimes more), but you can be selective and I think this aspect of the event is my favourite, and my collection is all the better for it.      

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD (CARD)

This card was another of the plain backed cards (all normally postcard sized), and this was another artist with an interesting selection of stickers of her work. Here I chose one with similar colour tones to the cards image. Again, this sticker has been applied and the artist has signed the card beside it (and what a delightful signature this is – some artists have a signature which looks little more than a squiggle – but this one is a beautiful addition to the card).

These combinations of card, sticker and signature make wonderful souvenirs of any Comic-Con visit.

BUSINESS CARD

Front and back

This business card obviously appealed to me because it had the same image on it as on the card I had bought.

02/04/2019

MCM COMIC-CON 2019

UNTITLED

‘TIGER’

Artwork by

TAMSIN ADLEY

Postcard Published by the Artist Herself

Yesterday I posted three lovely large tiger art postcards I picked up at the recent Comic-Con. Here is another piece of tiger artwork, but by a different artist. Again, I thought this was a lovely card, and another superb example of why I enjoy visiting the artist areas at Comic-Con. Here you get to see postcards which otherwise I strongly suspect you would never come across, and you get to meet the artists and get hem to sign the card(s) for you. I have found that when you ask them if they would sign the card for you, they are delighted to do so, and it opens-up a conversation (beyond that of the normal transaction one) and I have found nearly all the artists to be friendly and genuinely interested in why you are buying their card(s). Obviously, it helps if you are also interested in one or more of the following: Film/Television/Comics/Superheroes/Manga/Anime/Sci-Fi/Computer Games etc., as this is what the show is themed around, but the individual artist stands can produce some other great images, as I hope you have seen.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD (CARD)

This one did have the pre-printed circular advert logo in the centre, but with there being space around the edges I again went for one of the artists stickers, again featuring a tiger, and therefore a superb match for this postcard design (if you go back over the cards I have picked up from artists, where stickers were available, you will see that where I can I try and get something that is respective to the cards image). Tamsin then kindly signed the card for me (bottom right), As Tamsin also loves Tigers, she wrote this underneath her signature.

BUSINESS CARD (FRONT)

TAMSIN ADLEY

A nice animal themed piece of artwork which includes another tiger!

BUSINESS CARD (REVERSE)

TAMSIN ADLEY

This side has all the contact details

02/04/2019

MCM COMIC-CON 2019

A5 SIZED ADVERT BACKED ART PRINT CARD

For the company:

BEN & JACOBS OF OXFORD

(ART & MORE)

‘BOBA FETT’

You probably don’t need me to tell you that this is a character from the original Star Wars films (first appearing in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’). This superb art card was given away free on one of the ‘Company’ stands at the recent MCM Comic Con event. It is not a postcard, because it has an information filled reverse side, but as a free item, printed on good quality card, I thought it was a great addition to my Star Wars collection.

If you like this artwork and want to check out more then visit their website at:

www.benandjacobs.com