{"id":11579,"date":"2022-06-11T09:30:17","date_gmt":"2022-06-11T07:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=31714"},"modified":"2022-06-11T10:03:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T08:03:10","slug":"collecting-postcards","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/collecting-postcards\/","title":{"rendered":"Collecting postcards"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Emma Longstaff\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 11 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

\u2018Wish you were here?\u2019 We tend to think postcards go hand in hand with a traditional seaside holiday, along with fish and chips, sandcastles, and disappointing weather. But Georgina Tomlinson, a deputy curator at London\u2019s Postal Museum, explains that in their early days, postcards were used more like emails or text messages: \u2018When we go back to the first postcards, they were very plain, with a pre-printed stamp. They were designed to be a functional communication tool \u2013 and very quick and cheap to send at half the price of a standard letter. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, postal collections and deliveries were so frequent, especially in central London, you could send a postcard in the morning and it would arrive the same day.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
And the band played on \u2013 this early 1890s black-and-white photo postcard was part of a mixed topographical lot of 100-plus postcards, sold in April 2022.<\/span><\/figcaption> 1818 Auctioneers<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The first stamp in the world was issued in England in 1840, but postcards actually originated in Austria-Hungary; the earliest British postcards were produced in 1870. The British Post Office accepted picture postcards at the halfpenny rate in 1894, but one whole side was still left free for the address \u2013 any message had to be squeezed around the image.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The first-issued British postcard from 1870, which drew heavily on a Hungarian design. Printed only on one side, it included an imprinted halfpenny stamp that covered the price of postage \u2013 half that of a letter.<\/span><\/figcaption> Royal Mail Group Ltd, courtesy of The Postal Museum<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 1902 that the divided back cards we\u2019re more familiar with today were approved for use. Anyone could potentially read the message on a postcard, so some senders resorted to code, like Morse or mirror-writing. \u2018There was also a language of stamps \u2013 the angle at which the stamp was stuck said something specific, like \u201cI love you\u201d \u2013 but as this seems to have been quite widely known, it wasn\u2019t really very secret,\u2019 laughs Georgina.<\/p>\n

You might also like<\/strong> collecting antique photographs<\/a><\/p>\n

Huge numbers of postcards were sent in the early years of the 20th century\u2013 up to 900 million every year. We have accurate figures, as the Post Office had a special postcard rate, until it was replaced with the first and second class system in 1968. Savvy postcard publishers devised ways of boosting sales even further by encouraging a collecting craze, says Georgina: \u2018The company Raphael Tuck & Sons<\/a> ran competitions to see who could collect the most postcards. They were also numbered and produced in series, the idea being that you\u2019d try to assemble them all.\u2019 And when holidays on the coast became popular with the masses, publishers seized the opportunity to produce cards depicting bustling promenades and sunny beaches.<\/p>\n

During the First World War, soldiers at the front were given free postage, and encouraged to write home as a way of boosting morale. Georgina describes how the messages could be far from poetic: \u2018They might just scribble something like \u201cStill going strong\u201d \u2013 but imagine how much that meant to a mother back home.\u2019<\/p>\n

\""Collecting\"<\/picture><\/div>
\u2018Tommy at home in German dug outs\u2019 Daily Mail War Pictures Postcard (front) 1916.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Crown Copyright<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Collecting\"<\/picture><\/div>
\u2018Tommy at home in German dug outs\u2019 Daily Mail War Pictures Postcard (back) 1916.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Crown Copyright<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThere\u2019s something so moving about a postcard, she thinks: \u2018When you hold an old card in your hand, it can be a very emotive and tangible link with the past. It\u2019s been handled by two people connected in some way. The way people wrote to each other helps us see into the ordinary, everyday lives of people who often get left out of history. The messages can be so simple, but the character of the people writing them really comes across. We hear the voices of people as they really were, and not a romanticised version.\u2019\n

It\u2019s these insights into social history that make postcards so appealing, agrees Ken Payne, an expert valuer at 1818 Auctioneers<\/a> in Cumbria: \u2018At auction, the most valuable postcards show us how people really used to live and work. They\u2019re pictures of lost worlds. Topographical cards from the early 1900s achieve the highest prices at auction, especially when they\u2019re showing vehicles, people, events like parades and fairs, even accidents like tram crashes, train crashes, and mill fires. Black-and white images of country scenes don\u2019t appeal in the same way.\u2019<\/p>\n

You might also like<\/strong> a beginners guide to buying at auction<\/a><\/p>\n

In June 2021, 1818 Auctioneers sold a large collection of postcards of Barrow-in-Furness photographed around the turn of the century, depicting ships, dockyards, airships, even fires in factories, which made \u00a312,000. In the same sale, a very unusual set of postcards from Singapore and Penang in the early 1900s went for \u00a37,000.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Postcard depicting the collapse of a printing works, 1906.<\/span><\/figcaption> Claire Gamble<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Although really rare collections of topographical cards can make thousands at auction, individual postcards, or even a bundle, sell at postcard fairs or online for just a few pounds, making this one of the most accessible areas of collecting. There are many themes on which a collection could be focused \u2013 old shopfronts, scenes from Skegness, Suffragettes\u2026 or perhaps you\u2019ll be intrigued by the messages. As Georgina puts it, \u2018With postcards, there\u2019s beauty on both sides.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Votes for Women postcard.<\/span><\/figcaption> 1818 Auctioneers<\/i><\/span><\/div><\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emma Longstaff Published: Saturday, 11 June 2022 at 12:00 am \u2018Wish you were here?\u2019 We tend to think postcards go hand in hand with a traditional seaside holiday, along with fish and chips, sandcastles, and disappointing weather. But Georgina Tomlinson, a deputy curator at London\u2019s Postal Museum, explains that in their early days, postcards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":11580,"template":"","categories":[1,23],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/06\/collecting-postcards.jpg",1600,1016,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/06\/collecting-postcards-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/06\/collecting-postcards-300x191.jpg",300,191,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/06\/collecting-postcards-768x488.jpg",768,488,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/06\/collecting-postcards-1024x650.jpg",800,508,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/06\/collecting-postcards-1536x975.jpg",1536,975,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/06\/collecting-postcards.jpg",1600,1016,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Emma Longstaff Published: Saturday, 11 June 2022 at 12:00 am \u2018Wish you were here?\u2019 We tend to think postcards go hand in hand with a traditional seaside holiday, along with fish and chips, sandcastles, and disappointing weather. But Georgina Tomlinson, a deputy curator at London\u2019s Postal Museum, explains that in their early days, postcards…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/11579"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}