EMAIL ADDRESS - markspostcardchat@gmail.com

04/01/2021

TANYA ROBERTS ….. R.I.P.

Victoria Leigh Blum – 15^th October 1955 – 3^rd January 2021

American actress best known for playing the character Stacey Sutton in the James Bond film ‘A View to a Kill (1985)’. Also played Julie Rogers in the last series of ‘Charlie’s Angels’ (1980 – 1981) and Midge Pinciotti in the television series ‘That ‘70s Show’ (1998 – 2001 and 2004). I also remember seeing her in the films ‘The Beastmaster’ (1982) and ‘Sheena’ (1984) both of which I saw at the cinema. The actress sadly collapsed suddenly on Christmas eve after returning from walking her dogs and was taken to hospital where she stayed until her recent death.

update:

After the initial report of her death it was subsequently reported that she had not died and was in fact still allive. This caused a lot of reports about how she had wrongly been reported as having passed awy.

The story then got a surreal when her death was then re-reported the next day and confirmed, although the date of her actual passing away was now confirmed as having occurred on the following day: 4th January 2021.

PHOTOGRAPH

Tanya Roberts

Publicity still for James Bond film

03/01/2021

THE MODEL VILLAGE,

WEST CLIFF, RAMSGATE

Printed and Published by

JARROLD & SONS, LTD (Norwich) – Cotman-Color

Ref: RMV 4

I admit that I bought this one because of the model of the aircraft in the foreground. This is a model of a Fairey Rotodyne a strange aircraft developed during the 1950’s and early 1960’s, in the early days of helicopter story. Sadly, the project died through a combination of lack of funding and some concerns over the noise the craft created during take-off and flight. Considering the lack of success of this craft I was surprised to see a model of it here on this postcard.

On the reverse side someone has written the year date 1963, which I assume is when the original owner acquired it.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

03/01/2021

UNTITLED

By

ROSEMARY BLAKE

Published by

THE LONGSHOREMAN’S MUSEUM,

VENTNOR ESPLANADE (Isle of Wight)

Printed by

CLARENDON PRESS (Ventnor) Ltd

A postcard like this is aimed squarely at the tourist. I have always loved visiting small museums located in large, or small, towns, villages or cities. These used to be a great source of unusual and very local themed postcards. Sadly, now many have opted for the Robert Opie published postcards, but you can still find some which are still producing their own postcards. This one is a good example of what can be found. Is it a collectible card? To be honest, no, but it is an interesting card and unless you visit the museum yourself you will probably never see one.

02/01/2021

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION:

TO TOLERATE FOOLS MORE GLADLY,

PROVIDED THEY KEEP THEIR MASKS ON

Designed by

EBONNOIR.COM

MAXANDCOPOST

This superb New Year 2021 postcard was kindly sent to me by Heidi Belinsky all the way from America. This doubles up as a nice New Year’s postcard and an addition to my ‘Covid-19’ collection. I do sincerely pray that this pandemic gets sorted this year through the vaccines, but I do admit that I have enjoyed collecting this new theme but in a blink of an eye I would happily give up all the items in this theme if the bug could be eradicated.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

I do like it when people use a selection of different stamps on mail and the Americans have a wide number of interesting postage stamps to chose from.

01/01/2021

#BREXIT

Published by

CAVALIER POSTCARDS

Today is also the UK’s first day outside of the EU (European Union). Brexit, as it was called, has happened. Whatever people’s personal opinions (and I have tried not to voice mine here to keep things neutral) to both those who voted to remain and those who voted to leave the outcome of the referendum has come into being today. It will remain to be seen what now occurs.

Considering Brexit has been such a point of contention across the UK I have been surprised how few related postcards have come into existence. This one seems to capture the mood of those who voted to leave, I think.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

01/01/2021

MY FONDEST BIRTHDAY

GREETINGS TO YOU

May all the hours be sweet and bright

And fill your Birthday with delight

Unnamed Publisher

Ref: 2014/3

Embossed edging within border

On the 1^st of January each year I celebrate the birthday of my website. The very first posting occurred on this day in 2016, so today is the fifth birthday. To celebrate this event each year I try and find a birthday themed postcard. This one here is a cheap and cheerful one worth little but still delightful.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

01/01/2021

WHERE DID I LEAVE MY MASK?

By

CHARLOTTE BALL

Personally Published, and produced by

CHARLOTTE BALL

These arrived through the post yesterday and although they are Christmas themed and we are slightly past that now I still wanted to show them to you now as they are (hopefully) very much of the Christmas of 2020 with their lockdown and pandemic theming. Simple designs, but superbly executed and another addition to my still ongoing ‘Covid-19’ collection.

I KNEW I SHOULDN’T HAVE FURLOUGHED THEM ALL…

By

CHARLOTTE BALL

Personally Published, and produced by

CHARLOTTE BALL

I WONDER IF IT COUNTS AS ESSENTIAL TRAVEL…

By

CHARLOTTE BALL

Personally Published, and produced by

CHARLOTTE BALL

I WONDER IF IT COUNTS AS ESSENTIAL TRAVEL…

By

CHARLOTTE BALL

Personally Published, and produced by

CHARLOTTE BALL

SO, I HEARD BECAUSE OF THE ‘RULE OF 6’

WE GET THE YEAR OFF

By

CHARLOTTE BALL

Personally Published, and produced by

CHARLOTTE BALL

DO I NEED TO SELF ISOLATE?

By

CHARLOTTE BALL

Personally Published, and produced by

CHARLOTTE BALL

01/01/2021

HAPPY NEW YEAR

NOVELTY – Possibly Handmade? – WOODEN POSTCARD

Raised wooden letters and decorations on a wooden board

Unknown Maker

Posted 1912 within the UK

I have had this marvellous wooden item for many years so not sure why I have not posted here before. I have examined this many times and although it may have been a produced item, i.e., something made by a company, I think there is a good chance this was hand made by someone as a special on-off. It was posted in 1912 so is quite an early item in many ways after all it is now exactly 109 years old! This would probably be better described as a piece of postal history than as a postcard, but I love it.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE WOODEN CARD

This has a cancellation for what I believe was Upper Edmonton and is dated 1^st January 1912. As I said above this is now exactly 109 years old and is in superb condition considering its age.

31/12/2020

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION

RESOLVED TO SEE YOU EVERY TIME I GET THE CHANCE THIS YEAR

Novelty – Embossed Postcard

Published by

WHITNEY (Whitney Made)

Made in the US

It is New Year’s Eve as I write this, but I know that many other continents have crossed over the midnight deadline and are now in 2021, so Happy new year to those of you in this position, but to everyone here in the UK I know we are still three odd hours away from what will hopefully be a better year than the one we will be leaving (not that this would be hard considering how bad 2020 ended up being.

One of the things I liked about this unusual postcard is the fact that the sender has written people names under the snowman and woman. and has written a name under the snow dog!

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Posted from Boston Massachusetts on December 31^st , 1918, which is interesting for a number of different reasons. Firstly, today is the 31^st of December, and secondly there is the fact that at the end of 1918 the world was suffering from a flu pandemic, one of the worse pandemics of modern times before the Covid-19 pandemic hit us this year. I reckon that is enough coincidences for one evening!

30/12/2020

MOCKBA – MOSCOU

(Moscow)

LA MOSCOVA. VUE DE LA CATHEDRALE DE ST. SAUVEUR

‘Moscow – View of the Cathedral of St. Saviour

Printed by

PHOTOTYPIE SCHERER, NABHOLZ & Co. Moscow

This is a nice early undivided back postcard issue from Russia depicting a scene in Moscow. I have never been to Russia, but I suspect this scene has changed somewhat since this photograph was taken. I was fortunate to pick this card up in a cheap box for 50p I think and even though there is a fold crease bottom right corner, I still think this is a lovely card and I suspect worth much more, it would definitely be worth more without the crease. The reverse side is nice as well.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This side has a nice additional little image of a man with a large kettle pouring out what I suspect may be tea (Russia had – may still have – a long history of tea related culture). This extra image does make this reverse side attractive and makes this type of postcard more interesting.

28/12/2020

BUTLIN’S SKEGNESS

OUTDOOR SWIMMING POOL AND MONORAIL

Photo

D. NOBLE, JOHN HINDE STUDIOS

Published by Butlins

Printed by

JOHN HINDE LTD

Printed in Ireland

Ref: 3SK 8

I love Butlins postcards although I never visited the Skegness holiday park. My favourite related cards are those which depict the monorails because I had so much fun riding the one at Minehead. Therefore, whenever I see one on a postcard, no matter the location, I nearly always pick them up.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

The year section of the date cancel is unclear, but I think it is 1980. The message is about as standard as a holiday postcard message can get with lots of mention of the weather, I love reading these mundane communications from past holiday periods.

28/12/2020

THE POSTAL MUSEUM

“MAIL RAIL”

Download the ‘CloudGuide’ app to enjoy the Postal Museum ‘’AudioGuide’

Official Postal Museum Postcard

This postcard came out in either 2018 or 2019. I was due to ride the Mail Rail during the summer, but I am sure you can all guess as to why that was cancelled. Anyway, several years ago I sponsored a sleeper during the renovation of the Royal Mails underground railway. This sponsorship was not cheap, but it came with opportunities to walk the underground rail system and so far, I have done this twice. This year’s walk was to be my third but just before Christmas I received an email from the Postal Museum stating that I would soon receive another opportunity in 2021 so I am looking forward to doing this again. I think I will take my Grandson with me this time as my guest.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

I do not know if this Q code still works or not but feel free to try.

27/12/2020

UNTITLED POSTCARD

PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO PORTRAIT POSTCARD

Printed for the family by

USA STUDIOS

These early studio printed family member photographic postcards are fairly common and beyond any personal family history value they have very little monetary value. Having said that I find the reverse sides of these cards fascinating. They often have logos of the printers, often small local shops, or branches of a wider spread company, as is the case here. Despite the company name this was printed up in a studio here in the UK.

Anyone interested in the history of fashion and clothing would find postcards like this an amazing source of pictorial information. I suspect this young lady is wearing what would be described as her 'Sunday Best' , her best bit of clothing all prepared for her visit to the photographers for this picture to be taken.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

These were often more elaborate and better looking than the layouts of proper postcard publisher’s issues. When I find these really cheap, I always pick them up for their layouts.

27/12/2020

COME ON… LET’S GO!

NEXT SUNDAY IS

RALLY DAY

“O come, let us worship”

Psalm 95:6

Published by

ABINGDON

Litho in U.S.A.

Ref: No. 1015

A Sunday seems to be the best day of the week to depict this nice American postcard design. With no date attached it is difficult to precisely age this card, but I would guess 1950’s or 1960’s (they could be a late issue for the 1970’s but the feel of the image artwork and the back make me think otherwise). I have often mentioned that religious themed postcards have few collectors and are therefore not popular postcards, but I think this one is quite eye catching and I like the painting of the church used here.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

27/12/2020

TUNNEL OF LOVE

“I WANT MY MONEY BACK!”

Published by

PLASTICHROME

By

COLOURPICTURE PUBLISHERS INC

Boston, Mass, USA

Ref: P55237

Postcards like this, once so popular with tourists and visitors, are now much harder to find in shops and visitor locations, even at the seafront locations where they were perhaps most popular and to where they are traditionally most connected to by people in general.

They were also once neglected by postcard collectors as well but that has certainly changed over the last 5 to 10 years and now postcards like this are considered desirable and a good reference to how trends in cartoons have changed due to the changes in our most recent social history story. These may still be cheap, if your lucky these can be found for 50p to £1, but it is not going to be long before these are £2 to £4 as more and more collectors go looking for them.

27/12/2020

CORONA QUEEN FACE MASK

CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC

By

PSYCHOANT

Published by

REDBUBBLE

Now that we have almost come to the end of the Christmas holiday, I have included today in this year’s holiday period as it is a Sunday and normal working people (if there are such people these days!) are also off today, I suppose we will back to Covid and Pandemic news (not that it really went away over the festivities). On Christmas day I listened to the Queens speech, not something I do every year I admit, but what with 2020 being as it has been, I was intrigued to see what her majesty would say, and I admit I thought it was a very appropriate one in both tone and content.

26/12/2020

S’ELFY

By

ROSS J. DESIGNS

Printed in the UK by

STAR EDITIONS LTD

Ref: XMSRJ011PC

I thought this had a bit of a Christmassy feel to it, and its quite amusing. So, Happy Boxing Day everyone.

26/12/2020

UNTITLED MASK POSTCARDS

Published by

EKPHRASIS ART

STATUE

My daughter knows what to get me for Christmas. She found these superb, and in my mind beautiful mask related art postcards (with full postcard back) and sourced a set for me which I received yesterday. Now, I happen to know that these were quite expensive, but they are wonderful and make for some very original additions to my now extensive ‘Covid-19’ collection.

UNTITLED MASK POSTCARDS

Published by

EKPHRASIS ART

AUDREY HEPBURN

What a great novelty addition to anyone’s ‘Film’ themed collection. A smashing piece of artwork.

UNTITLED MASK POSTCARDS

Published by

EKPHRASIS ART

LIONESS

This one is probably my favourite card from the set, possibly because I like the mask that is depicted here.

UNTITLED MASK POSTCARDS

Published by

EKPHRASIS ART

SQUIRREL

UNTITLED MASK POSTCARDS

Published by

EKPHRASIS ART

HORSE

UNTITLED MASK POSTCARDS

Published by

EKPHRASIS ART

FOX

UNTITLED MASK POSTCARDS

Published by

EKPHRASIS ART

MOLE

I love the use of the red coloured mask here as it works so well against the blackness of the mole, another great design from this excellent set (you can tell I liked this set from all the superlatives I have used to describe it and the individual cards in it)

25/12/2020

CHRISTMAS 2020 COUNTDOWN

CHRISTMAS POSTCARD SELECTION

(Day Eighteen)

CHRISTMAS DAY

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2020

With Love Mark & Jo

“STAY SAFE”

Personalised Christmas Postcard

Jo and I had our own Christmas postcard printed up from an eBay provider. I thought this was a nice simple design. It also had a Covid/Pandemic theme to it which adds to its interest for me (I have kept one for my own collection). So, as we have reached the actual day now, I thought this was the perfect card for today. With this card I send my Best Christmas wishes out to everyone along with the hope for a much happier New Year.

MANY HAPPY DAYS

Novelty Embossed Postcard

Published by

VALENTINE’S (SERIES)

Printed in Britain

What a simple but superb Christmas themed early postcard.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

You can clearly see the embossing from this side

24/12/2020

CHRISTMAS 2020 COUNTDOWN

CHRISTMAS POSTCARD SELECTION

(Day Seventeen)

CHRISTMAS EVE

‘FATHER CHRISTMAS’

Embossed Novelty Postcard

Spiele & Verspieltes

Made in Germany

Ref: 6Wp043

Well, we are almost there, and overnight Santa should be plugging in the Sat-Nav and travelling all over to deliver peoples presents. Thank God the leaders of the world have given him a pass thus allowing him to be pretty much ne of the few allowed to travel to and through different countries!

Truthfully though, what a Christmas! Personally, it will be the first without seeing all of my family, as is the case for many in the south of the UK, and across other countries and regions. Fingers crossed for some sort of recovery in 2021 and a better Christmas next year.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

You can just see the embossing marks of the main design.

SCHONE BESCHERUNG

MERRY CHRISTMAS

By

GERHARD GLUCK

Published by

INKOGNITO

One very naughty Santa depicted here on a postcard from a company which I have always liked. Their postcards have always had a different view of the funny and just plain weird world their artists reside in. When I see these, which is mainly when I am abroad now, especially in Germany where they originate, so I have not added any new ones to my collection during 2020, I always pick them up. This one here I picked up in Berlin during 2019 (what a better year that was!)

FROLICHE WEIHNACHTEN

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Published by

KUNST UND BILD (Art and Image)

‘TURNOWSKY’S ART’

(W. TURNOWSKY LTD)

Ref: SW 7166X2

This is from a series of postcards printed on a thicker card with the addition of spot areas of shiny printing (the words, snowflakes and the sleigh, etc). This is another card I bought in Germany although this one was bought in Nuremberg (again in a 2019 visit).

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

23/12/2020

CHRISTMAS 2020 COUNTDOWN

CHRISTMAS POSTCARD SELECTION

(Day Sixteen)

“CHRISTMAS 2020”

ROYAL MAIL PHQ STAMP CARD SET

PHQ Set 478

(postcards that reproduce the Royal Mail’s stamp releases)

Stamps issued – 3^RD November 2020

(As always, I have my copies used with the appropriate stamp applied to the front of the card and cancelled first day of issue with a special hand stamp)

2^ND CLASS

Published by

ROYAL MAIL

Ref: PHQ 478 (1)

At last, I get to show you this years Royal Mail stamp cards of the present Christmas stamps. This year is a traditional year, so the designs are of the religious look and this year we have stained glass windows. Very nice, but much like many previous years designs so not anything uniquely special.