A lovely, durable and decorated hindged metal tin of orange flower postcards with 4 different designs, measuring 15cm x 10cm.
James Blunt, The Who and even Siouxie and the Banshees have performed songs about Postcards and there is an interesting history behind them…
Deltiologists have been collecting and studying postcards since the mid 1860s when these open letters were initially used. It was the invention of the penny post that promoted the feasibility of postcards in the UK. The creation of the International Postal Union which guaranteed delivery in many countires made postcards an international sensation only a few years later. Before the 1840s it was the recipient who paid for postage and charges were determined by weight, so people wrote all over the paper to get the most for their money.
I think that collecting postcards is a bit like collecting cigarette cards, except the establishment of the date of a cigarette card is often easier than that of postcards. Stamps because they were official documents, tend to be much easier to date but there’s no doubt that the breadth of subject matter is much wider for postcards. Our selection of postcards mainly use old illustrations of flora or fauna. However my interest is in contemporary photographs of less well catalogued places. The growth of photogaphy in the 19th century also aided this. By that I mean that you can find paintings of London Bridge or other well known landmarks that have been ‘captured’ from different angles over a number of years but simple street scenes tend not to be repeated. I love looking at old photographs and spotting a building that is still there and identifying it.
Here is an old postcard of the Devil’s Bridge at Kirkby Lonsdale, before the more modern Stanley Bridge was built in the 1930s.
Sometimes it is the buildings that aren’t still there that are of great interest. One such is the little known Morecambe Tower, a less fortunate rival to that of Blackpool.
I am indebted to morecambe.myzen.co.uk for this old postcard photograph.
The 232ft tower was built in 1898 and demolished to provide scrap iron for the first world war. The Tower Theatre, Ice Rink and Casino remained on the corner of the Promenade and Lord Street for many years but had gone by my earliest memories in the 1960s. A bowling alley took its place and now, I think, a Bingo Hall. Also, at least for a time, a second-hand car dealership was there, which provided my first car in 1979.
Another aspect of historic postcards that has always disturbed me is the number of beautiful cards, often decorated with local lace, send from the Western Front during the first world war.
It feels so strange that amongst the carnage and mud British Tommies were able to sent home messages to their loved ones on the back of such beautiful cards. Josie has been long fascinated by these and has quite a collection. Here is a photo of some that she has mounted.
You can see the range of postcards in tins available from Abrahams Store, here.
