Postcard

The postcard message reads: “I wish you were here, it is a lovely boat & it would do you good. Am just going on deck.” Actually, this wouldn’t have done much good at all: the boat in question was the Titanic.

British summer and bank holiday trips to the coast used to be synonymous with bucket and spade, ice cream stolen by seagulls, greasy fish and chips and… rain. But don’t forget another popular aspect of the golden age of seaside breaks: the saucy postcard.

JK Rowling and the West Midlands Police have issued an appeal to find a stolen handwritten Harry Potter prequel.

A key which opened a life-jacket locker on the Titanic was one of the highlights of Henry Aldridge & Son’s auction last week.

The strong historical appeal and the internet are two reasons for the growing interest in postcards, says David Smith, who runs IPM Promotions’ monthly postcard and collectors’ fair in Central London.

This Titanic postcard has been consigned to White Star Line specialists Henry Aldridge & Son to be included in their sale on July 28 in Devizes, Wiltshire.

MORE than 20,000 naval postcards, thousands of photographs and slides, and a large quantity of books will be put up for sale at Lawrences in Crewkerne in May.

ON Friday and Saturday, February 23 and 24, the Royal Bath and West Showground at Shepton Mallet will host the largest postcard, tradecard, postal history and ephemera fair in the UK.

THE Bloomsbury Postcard and Collectors Fair is now in its 22nd year and is, say organisers IPM Promotions, the largest monthly postcard fair in the world with more than 120 tables selling all types of paper collectables.

A vast photographic postcard archive depicting Devon in the first half of the 20th century has emerged in Nottinghamshire.

Special Postcard Auctions, Cirencester, February 28, Buyer’s premium: 10 per cent THE First World War was the main attraction at the Corinium Galleries when a single silk showing a bearded Un Diable Bleu – the nickname given to France’s gallant and celebrated Chasseurs Alpin regiment – led the day at £290, and a similar portrait bust of Un Poilu (infantryman) made £230.

The recent competition seen for rare First World War silks was repeated at the sale conducted by Specialised Postcard Auctions (10% buyer’s premium) of Cirencester on December 6.

THE well advertised sale of Railwayana & Military Memorabilia was held in H.J Pugh & Co’s Ledbury salerooms on the 13th October and was another successful auction.

H.J. PUGH & Co. of Ledbury (5% buyer's premium) will be offering a selection of Railwayana, Military Memorabilia and Other Collectables at auction on Saturday 13th November.

TEMPTING though it is to say that word from the Specialised Postcard Auctions (10% buyer's premium) was lost in the post, this midsummer auction on July 5 has slipped through the Antiques Trade Gazette net until now. But the £23,000 sale should be recorded as one of the series which have, for years, been catering for this specialist market.

TWO BOX files of Ford manufacturers’ catalogues, advertising material and other ephemera of 1920s and ’30s motoring interest brought a bid of £1550 in a May 19 sale held by Thomson Roddick & Medcalf and the only other lot to reach four figures was a collection of some 370 postcards relating almost entirely to Ulverston and Furness.