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Tizer
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Posted -
09/02/2010
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10:40
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Postcard collecting is great fun because you can still get old cards very cheap and they have been published on just about every topic you can think of. Some people collect them simply because they like old postcards, others because the cards illustrate or enliven their hobby or family history. If you are lucky you might even find your ancestors shown on a card, or a picture of the house they lived in or the ship they emigrated on. People often collect cards of their home town, or of subjects such as ships, aeroplanes, music hall entertainers or those cheeky seaside ones by people like McGill (husband eyeing two pretty girls on Blackpool pier: "Aye, the view's good from here!"). Some even collect brand new cards.
You can buy them on Ebay but it's more fun to go to a postcard fair and look through hundreds of cards, talk to the sellers and meet other enthusiasts. Watch out too for old photographs often sold by the same people, or business letterheads and the like (I bought a Robert Stephenson Locomotive Works one for a few pounds recently).
The big event coming up in the north is the annual Stockport postcard fair at the Town Hall on Saturday, 13th February. It's organised by Ken Hassell, KSG promotions, Glossop, and you can get details from him on telephone number 01723-363665. There are smaller fairs held quite often. (The Town Hall's web page shows: Admission: £2.00, Adults and Concessions £1.50, 10am - 4pm, Secure car parking at 50p per car.)
The hobby's magazine is `Picture Postcard Monthly' which you can buy for £2.60 in WH Smiths or ask your newsagant to get it for you (or subscribe). Each issue has loads of postcard pictures and interesting stories and you can't beat that for £2.60! I know I mention the magazine often but it really is good (and no, I'm not linked to it in any way other than reading it!).
Start collecting postcards now and brighten up your life!
Coincidentally, this postcard was the first picture I put on OGFB (back in 2007) and it was sent by my Uncle George to my Grandma during the Second World War...
Edited by - Tizer on 09/02/2010 20:20:53
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Sue
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Posted - 09/02/2010 : 23:04
MY ELDEST COLLECTED POST CARDS FOR YEARS WHEN SHE WAS A TEENAGER. sHE HAD SOME GREAT ONES. Sorry hit CAPS lock with my little finger!
I think we still have the collection in the loft
I always thumb through any old postcard ollections I see, and have been known to buy thm for senimental or historical reasons
Sue
Edited by - Sue on 09/02/2010 11:06:16 PM
If you keep searching you'll find it |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 10/02/2010 : 07:31
Postcards are brilliant and often illustrate something that would otherwise be missed. Just noticed the quitation on the Winged Heroes card is by Patience Strong, possibly my least favourite books but they sell in millions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_Strong
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 10/02/2010 : 12:12
Sue, dig out the collection if you still have it - it could be the core for a new collection of your own! We were triggered by a collection given to my mother by a friend and they are cards sent home by members of a family in the first decades of the 1900s. The cards are interesting but so are the messages on the back - everything from relatives coming home from war to the `email style' saying "Got tickets for the Rialto. See you at 6.00 outside'. I described this family and its cards on OGFB here.
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Sue
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Posted - 10/02/2010 : 13:34
Good idea Tiz, I think they may be in the loft
Sue
If you keep searching you'll find it |
Zeke
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Posted - 11/02/2010 : 15:44
Sounds like a great hobby, and inexpensive too. We have some stashed away in the attic dating back to WW1. Every summer we make it a habit of going to the 'Printers Row Book Fair' in downtown Chicago. The fair not only is heaven for book collectors but postcard and photographs as well.
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frankwilk
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Posted - 11/02/2010 : 17:48
Postcards are starting to attract serious money, a small collection of Blackpool went for £60 at Wednesday's auction here.
Frank Wilkinson Once Navy Always Navy |
Tizer
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Posted - 11/02/2010 : 19:56
Some cards are expensive because they are rare. But fortunately, when other cards go for serious money you can often find them somewhere else for much less. The serious money tends to be because somebody has a very specific interest, such as needing the cards to complete a set, or wanting cards related to family history. Ebay is a danger here - don't assume that because a card sells for £50 on Ebay that it is worth that to other people. On Ebay some people pay daft prices compared with postcard fairs. The magazine regularly mentions cards that have sold on Ebay for £70-£100 but can be picked up at a fair for £10. Recently they had such an example where the card normally sells for £1 and is easy to find! Most of the cards Janet and I buy are priced at only a few pounds, some are even less.
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frankwilk
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Posted - 12/02/2010 : 09:15
Hi Tiz do you collect a specific interest ?? I will look as I go to a couple of auctions almost every week
Frank Wilkinson Once Navy Always Navy |
Tizer
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Posted - 12/02/2010 : 12:17
Thanks for the offer Frank, but the answer is not really, we tend to buy what takes our fancy. Also, it would be hard to say what we might want. For instance, Janet has bought a number of old cards with views of Blackpool and Blackburn (my birthplace) but what we have is only a tiny fraction of the total available. If we just collected on a specific narrow topic and had most of the cards, we could then tell you what we needed to `complete' the collection. But I'll keep it in mind and if I think of anything we'll let you know.
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Zeke
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Posted - 12/02/2010 : 14:25
Not to jump off the topic of postcard collecting, but I was wondering if any one is interested in, or collects vintage and new fountain pens, ink wells? I've been a collecting pens for about 15 years or so. It is an addictive hobby I can assure you and can also be an expensive one, depending on the writing instrument you're interested in. Fountain pens range in a myriad of prices, starting at $25 dollars and up in the thousands.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 12/02/2010 : 17:39
Guess who got a postcard of a bloke firing a boiler for a birthday card.... Nice one Janet and Peter!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 15/02/2010 : 16:47
Frank, we will be going to the annual Shepton Mallet postcard fair (100+ dealers) at the end of this month so let me know if you have any specific needs.
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frankwilk
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Posted - 15/02/2010 : 18:47
Old view of the Alms House or Workhouse at Wells would be nice. Val's greats greats died in the Workhouse at Wells.
Thank's Peter
Frank Wilkinson Once Navy Always Navy |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 16/02/2010 : 06:18
Frank, tell Val that the more I look at workhouses the more I come to believe that in comparison to the expected standards of the day they were usually a lot better than the popular perception. Certainly preferable to being destitute outside in winter.
I use my postcards as bookmarks and a lot of them live in books. Always a bonus when you open up a book up and find a bookmark.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 16/02/2010 : 20:38
We'll have a look for you, Frank.
Stanley, it can be great fun when you buy a s/h book and find something in it. I have books from the collection of a botanist called Hubbard who worked at Kew and was well-known in his branch of the subject. I bought them in theearly 1980s. Some books have paper inserted with his hand written draft for his review of the book. Another had correspondence with a famous lady botanist in the US.
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