10/01/2019

MEOW DO YOU DO?

Published by

THE LEPOLAS / KEEP CALM LTD

THE CALM GALLERY

A nice simple cat design which I bought sometime in 2017. For a while, but not for some that I have seen, this was available in branches of ‘paperchase’ here in the UK.

10/01/2019

“HEY YOU TWO –

I THOUGHT THE WRESTLING MATCH WAS ON TV.!”

Design by

A TAYLOR

Published by

BAMFORTH & CO., LTD., HOLMFIRTH, YORKSHIRE

“COMIC” SERIES

Ref: No. 1342

I have a’ particular’ fondness for seaside comic cards which either depict or reference television in any way. The television set depicted here is based on an older styled TV set style, one I have seen in museums. This card is a cracker and gaining in value every year.

“HEY, ALBERT! – COME AND DO THE DISHES!!”

“JUST A MINUTE LOVE – I’M JUST WATCHING THE BRAINS TRUST!”

Design by

A TAYLOR

Published by

BAMFORTH & CO., LTD., HOLMFIRTH, YORKSHIRE

“COMIC” SERIES

Ref: No. 1744

The shape of this television set is not unlike that of the one on the card above. This is another one from my television collection. It is also another popular design.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Used with a 2 ½ d Wilding Queens Head UK definitive stamp which has been cancelled with a WELLINGTON, SOMERSET wavy-line machine cancellation dated 10^th September 1960.

10/01/2019

REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE

SOLOGNE

RED DEER STAG AND FOREST, SOLOGNE NATURE RESERVE

French 1F stamp

(SG 1958)

30^TH SEPTEMBER 1972

First Day of Issue Special Handstamp

Postcard Photo by

S. DUPILLE

Published

G. PARISON ET B. REGNIER

Ref: CARTE PHILATELIQUE No 813

This is a good example of finding a great photograph which goes nicely with the issued stamp. The stamp itself is from a ‘Tourist Publicity’ set of four issued in 1972. The stamp is not of great value, but used here on this official maxi-card issue it makes for a nice combined item, one which would cost you a good couple of pounds.

10/01/2019

RED CROSS FUND

HEROES OF CRIME NOVELS

ARSENE LUPIN (Maurice Leblanc)

French Stamp

(SG 3345)

5^TH OCTOBER 1996

First Day of Issue Special Handstamp

EDITIONS PHILATELIQUES NICE

(2, RUE DE L’HOTEL-DES-POSTES, NICE)

I have always found that France issued the best and most consistent series of maxi-cards. This is one card from s set of six, although I only have a couple of the cards from it.

Arsene Lupin is a bit of a strange one for this set as the character was a gentleman thief, but it seems most of the people he went up against were far worse than him which kind of paints him as a hero rather than a full-blooded villain, despite being a thief! The first story was published in 1905 (The Arrest of Arsene Lupin). The character was created by French writer Maurice Leblanc.

10/01/2019

AUSIPEX 84

21 – 30 SEPTEMBER 1984

PFA I MELBOURNE

Official SWEDISH POST OFFICE event postcard

Published by the

SWEDISH POST OFFICE

POSTENS TRYCKERI 1984

This postcard was available at the event and has the 1983 Swedish ‘Arctic Fox’ stamp applied to the front. This stamp has been cancelled with the official ‘STOCKHOLM – PFA I MELBOURNE – AUSIPEX 84 – 21-9-1984’ special hand stamp. The Swedish Post Office issued a number of these philatelic event postcards like this one, which would receive a Swedish stamp which would then be cancelled with an event exclusive cancellation. This postcard depicts an Australian Bushtail Possum stamp, obviously used because this was an Australian show.

10/01/2019

SQUAW PEAK

SQUAW VALLEY CALIF [California]

View of ski lift on way to Squaw Peak.

Site of the 1960 Winter Olympics

NOVELTY – SILVER ‘SHINY’ CARD

Distribute by

RENO NEWS AGENCY, RENO, NEVADA

Published by

STANTON PAPER & FOIL CO., NEW YORK

Foilex Printed in West Germany

Ref: RN 8

This appears to be an official Winter Olympic Games postcard, although it is also a very shiny card. The quality of the card is probably not something I would describe as high, but when I came across it in a cheap box on a stamp-dealers stall I turned it over and immediately became interested.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This has some nice usage as it has three copies of the USA 1960 Winter Olympic Games 4c stamps (SG 1145) applied which appear to have been cancelled with two different dated strikes of the OLYMPIC VALLEY, CALIF’ cancellation dated 24^th February 1960 and the 25^th February 1960. I don’t know exactly why this has two dated strikes, but perhaps it was incorrectly cancelled on the 25th before the date had been changed over, so it still read the 24^th. As this was the wrong date it would then have been changed, if noticed, and we are assuming it was here, and then the card would have been cancelled again, over the old 24^th dated cancel, with the new correctly dated 25^th cancel (this scenario would explain things).

There is also a nearly square shaped PAR AVION – BY AIR MAIL label on the left side and a nice blue ink large cachet which reads; EIN GUTER GRIFF - DER KREUZERSTOCK ( A Good Hand – The Crusader), which I think is a ski equipment company advertising cachet, which may be linked to the area and its local winter sports, which clearly included skiing.

The overall look of this reverse side is great, and although there is a philatelic like look to this card, as in it look like it might have gone to a collector, it has genuinely been carried in the mail having been posted to Austria. A nice card.

09/01/2019

SWEDISH STAMPS ARE ENGRAVINGS

Published by

POSTVERKETS TRYCKERI 1974

An interesting card from my ‘Philatelic’ themed collection This is from Sweden, a country renowned in the stamp world for its wide range of engraved postage stamp designs. This photograph depicts one of the engraved stamp blocks and the tools used to produce this. I am very fond of the engraved stamps from Sweden and have a number used on postcards.

09/01/2019

THE FIRST VC OF THE EUROPEAN WAR

Captain Francis Grenfell, 9^th Lancers, at Audregnies, Belgium,

24 August 1914 (the first VC to be gazetted)

Oil on Canvas by

RICHARD CATON WOODVILLE (1856 -1927)

Published by the

NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM

Copyright – The National Army Museum, Chelsea, London 1997

Ref: 7809-22

This had to be quite early-on in the first world war because it involved a charge with horses, something which became a lot less achievable with trench warfare and the extensive use of heavy machine guns.

Francis Octavius Grenfell was with the 9^th Lancers when they charged a large body of Germans. The casualties the Lancers received were high leaving Grenfell as the senior officer. Grenfell was himself hit twice and had some severe wounds, but when asked to help save some guns of the 119^th Battery, Royal Field Artillery he and some volunteers, under a hail of bullets, helped to manhandle and push the guns out of range of the enemy fire.

Sadly, as so often the case with those who won medals and awards early in the war, Grenfell was killed in action the next year on the 24^th May 1915 in the Hooge area of Belgium. He was aged 34.

09/01/2019

FROM KAGOSHIMA

Unknown Publisher

JAPANESE POSTCARD

‘KAGOSHIMA – A COLLECTION OF EXCELLENT PHOTOGRAPHS’

For once I have no idea where I obtained this postcard from, well, you can’t remember everything. The card has no descriptive other than to inform me that this is Kagoshima, which I know is in Japan. Fortunately, although it looks like these people have been buried alive, they are actually-having a sand bath, something which I was aware of (which may be why I bought the card, if I bought it and it wasn’t given to me by someone!). The exact location is not given but there is a place called the Ibusuki Natural Sand Bath Center Saraku. This centre is in an area of hot springs and the sand here I heated naturally, reading about the place they suggest not more than 10 minutes under the sand as it is very hot, and you quickly become dehydrated!

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This has been used with two nice stamps which have a Kagoshima – Japan cancellation on them which looks like it is dated 21^st July 2006

Enlargement of the stamps

09/01/2019

STEPHEN HAWKING

1942 – 2018

Photograph by

DAVID GAMBLE

Published by the

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

(LONDON)

This was another of the postcards that appeared last year in the Gallery shop. It is also another one which seems to have had a short shelf life as it was not in the racks when I last visited. This constant changing of their postcards, with the exception, of the standard range of best sellers, is what brings me back to this shop every year.

08/01/2019

AMITIES

‘Friendships’

NOVELTY EMBOSSED POSTCARD

Published probably in France by a company’s whose logo I do not recognise – the logo is on the reverse side)

This is one of the postcards I picked up on my recent trip to Nuremberg in Germany. I like embossed postcards, and this is a nice early French example

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/01/2019

A GREETING TRUE THAT NEVER FAILS

I SEND TO YOU FROM LOVELY WALES

Published by

VALENTINE & SONS LTD., DUNDEE AND LONDON

“ART COLOUR” POSTCARD

Ref: 897

Another of the many Welsh national costume postcards produced throughout the history of picture postcards.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This has been used with a 2 ½ d Wilding Queens Head definitive UK stamp. This has been cancelled with an indistinct slogan cancellation dated 23^rd October 1961. Although much of the slogan can not be seen it is one that reads:

POST OFFICE

1861 – 1961

SAVINGS BANK

This slogan was in use between the 16^th September 1961 to 25^th October 1961 (except the 18 & 25 Sept), so this strike here was just two days before the slogan ceased being used, although there is one recorded late usage at Swindon 7^th November. This copy was posted from Wales to my home town of Southend on Sea.

08/01/2019

MECHANICS BLDG [Building].,

BOSTON, MASS. [Massachusetts]

Published by

A. ISRAELSON & CO., ROXBURY, MASS

This was a building and community institution on Huntington Avenue at West Newton Street from 1881 to 1959. The structure was commissioned by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association and designed by architect William Gibbons Preston.

This is another example of a postcard depicting a building which has gone as the building was demolished in the 1960’s for the building of the new Prudential Center Urban Renewal project.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Someone has tried to remove the stamp from this postcard, unsuccessfully sadly. But most of the cancellation can still be seen, and it’s a BOSTON, MASS – ESSEX STREET STATION wavy line cancellation dated 27^th October 1913. The building depicted was located between the Boston and Albany railroad yards and Huntington Avenue, so there is a link to the railroad service here and this does look like a station cancel.  

08/01/2019

STAR WARS

BETWEEN THE LINES POSTCARD BOOK

20 COLOURING IN POSTCARDS

Published by the Stationery Company

TYPO

(Original RRP £6)

FRONT COVER OF POSTCARD BOOK

I bought a copy of this book of postcards earlier last year for the full price, but it is now in the sales at half price, so I have bought a second copy and dismantled it, something I don’t do with my postcard books unless I have a second copy. So, here I show you all 20 of the cards contained in this book:

THE MILLENNIUM FALCON

CHEWBACCA

MIXED IMAGES

STAR WARS

SPACE CRAFT

STORMTROOPER

WORD PICTURE

There are a number of these character faces made up of relevant words and I really liked these. I have not seen anything like these on postcards before.  

AT-AT

And if you do not know, AT AT stands for All Terrain Armoured Transport.

CARTOON STRIP PAGE

YODA

WORD PICTURE

R2D2

DROIDS

DEATH STAR

YODA

DEATH STAR

SURFACE TRENCH

This is the trench that Luke Skywalker flies along before shooting his missiles into the duct that causes the Death Star to be destroyed. Is this the first time this has appeared on a specific postcard?  

SPEED BIKE

DARTH VADER

WORD PICTURE

C3PO

WORD PICTURE

DARTH VADERS

TIE FIGHTER

STAR WARS

X-WING

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

In my opinion this is the least impressive of the cards in this series, but, it’s not terrible.

PRINCESS LEIA

SLAVE COSTUME

It is nice to see Princess Leia, as played by the late Carrie Fisher, included here as none of the other human like characters have cards in this set, and if you are going to depict Leia then why not depict her wearing the famous (or infamous if you like) slave costume.

BACK COVER OF POSTCARD BOOK

With Binding edge as well

08/01/2019

THE CHORISTERS,

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

Published by

WALTER SCOTT, BRADFORD

WALTER SCOTT COLOUR SERIES – NATURAL COLOUR POST CARD

Ref: C.K.105

A recent buy, just before Christmas, at an antiques market in my home county. I bought this one because I liked the image, and I have often visited Canterbury Cathedral.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/01/2019

‘IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM…’

By

PETER GERSINA

Published by

PICKUP EDITION

Ref: #135

(Possibly a Free Rack Card – Germany)

This is an aerial view of the Champs-Elysees in Paris, but I bought this poster artwork design because it depicts the cartoon character Mighty Mouse, bottom right corner. The character appeared on American television in animated films between 1955 and 1967. The character was created in 1942 and originally the films were shown in cinema theatres. So, this is another unusual postcard for my television collection.  

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/01/2019

WALT DISNEY WORLD

Official Wat Disney World Postcard

Published by Disney

To offset the other two Disney(ish) postcards I have depicted today I suppose I should show you another proper official postcard. This one is from the Walt Disney World theme park and is quite a few years old now.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/01/2019

THE STONED CROW

85 WASHINGTON PLACE,

NEW YORK

Published by

HOTSTAMP FREE POSTCARDS

Free Rack Card – North America

Whilst you are recovering from seeing the Donald postcard below, I give you this advertising postcard for an American pub or bar in New York. The image here (the beer glass is added, obviously) is from the Disney animated feature film ‘Dumbo’, although the main character is not depicted. Considering the name of the drinking establishment the image used here is quite appropriate, although I am not sure how they got away with it as Disney are quite tight over their copyright. Great postcard though, and one which you would not recognise as Disney related unless you had seen the film or knew the mouse character.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Typical HOTSTAMP reverse with logo top right

08/01/2019

THE CHALKPITS

ADMISSION TICKET

50P

23 JUN 1979

Ticket Number 001384

‘THE AMBERLEY CHALKPITS FROM THE RIVER IN THE SUMMER OF 1913’

By

WILLIAM PARKER

Published by the

CHALKPITS MUSEUM, HOUGHTON BRIDGE, AMBERLEY, BURY

A good example of a postcard being used as an entrance ticket. This is a great way of getting some extra promotion as the vast-majority of the visitors could potentially use the postcard as intended and send it to friends and family thus spreading word about the museum. The person who received this particular-card in 1979 though kept it, which means it is a nice clean mint example.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/01/2019

SADO-MASO DONALD

By

NATALIE ROERKOHL

Published by

EDGAR GRATIS POSTKARTEN SERVICE

EDGAR AUF DER KARTE

Ref: #814

Free Rack Card – Germany

Oh Natalie, what have you done! Donald and Daisy will never look the same to me again! Should I have put this under the CENSORED tab, he laughs, I wouldn’t want to horrify any true Disney fans after all. In-reality this is just a very amusing cartoon card, and to be fair although the duck is called Donald no direct connection is made, although clearly implied

08/01/2019

NOVELTY – SCOUT SHIRT SHAPED POSTCARD

Published and sold by

THE SCOUT SHOP OF HONG KONG

This was a present from my eldest son who is a Group Scout Leader for a scout group where he lives. His connection with scouting continues our general family connection with my youngest two and my wife all running a Beaver scout group whilst I am a Cub Scout assistant leader. With this long running connection, it would come as no surprise that I collect scouting related cards. This one here is a modern card that was sent as a Christmas greetings card on the 1^st December 2018 from Hong Kong.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Used from Hong Kong with a $5 Hong Kong, China ‘Ap Chau’ view stamp cancelled with a nice clean Hong Kong cancel.

I have an historic connection with scouting in Hong Kong as I was part of the first ever expedition by a British venture scout group to Hong Kong in 1981. I stayed a few nights in what was then the Hong Kong Scout HQ at No 9 Cox’s Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon (the HQ moved to a new building in 1994). I loved Hong Kong and mean to go back sometime to see how much has changed since my visit 38 years ago.