PPM Jul 11 - Picture Postcard Monthly

Specialised Postcard Auctions’
May postal sale
underlined the gap
between must-have subjects
and less popular
material, with bidding for
much of the latter subdued.
So it was that Mabel
Lucie Attwell and I.R. Outhwaite
stood out again in
the Art & Artists section,
with eight of the latter’s
‘fairy’ cards selling for
£132. Maurice Pepin and
Jack Abeille also recorded
above-average results.
British topography included
above-estimate results
for Worcestershire and
Cornwall, while in the
overseas section Spain
and Russian costume art
attracted plenty of attention,
as did a collection of
early Gruss aus, almost
doubling estimate to sell
at £66. The singles section
included an art deco study
by Brunelleschi at £66,
CWS Pelaw Polish advert
at £48 and Somerton railway
station interior at £60.
Other stations to impress
were Melksham (£50), St.
Budeaux (£40) and
Lustleigh (£40). Louis
Wains ranged from £15 to
a Wrench-published
‘Frightening daddy’ design
at £55.
�Auctions �
Irish political and topographical on
song at Nottingham auction
Trevor Vennett-Smith’s latest postcard auction highlighted
the continuing demand for top material and
collections. Irish cards made excellent prices (with a
collector flying from Dublin to be at the sale), as did
theatrical postcards, but cinema cards proved
extremely difficult to sell. A feature of the sale was
the number of bigger collections on offer. Examples
included a 220-strong lot of postcards of The Sudan,
which sold for £855, 270 music hall stars from the
archive of theatrical agent Fred Reynolds that made
the same figure, a mixed subject and topographical
colection of 250 at £746 and 800 Irish postcards at
£1,565. Other Irish cards went well, with some politicals
averaging £40 a card. One ‘In Memoriam’ card
to Kevin Barry realised £96. Equal top price of the
sale went to a Harry Payne watercolour painting of
the Middlesex Regiment at the battle of Albuhera,
which also made £1,565. Top single postcards were
a scarce art nouveau advert for a Cycle and Sports
Exhibition in Paris in 1903 (£78), Great Northern Railway
poster advert (£75), Tuck Celebrated Poster
series for Milkmaid Milk (£75), a rare Shell advert
(£75) and Boer war cartoon (£63). A dozen Florence
Upton cards made £168.
�� Horner’s May auction at
Acle was a big success,
with the postcard section a
near sell-out. The 150-odd
lots forming a retired dealer’s
stock grossed £27,000,
with highlights including
42 UK railway stations at
£554, 1,200 children postcards
at £826 and 900 Suffolk
at £566. Spokesman
David Wild told PPM that
“bidding was at times frantic,
with room, internet and
phone bidders vying
against each other to
secure lots. Competition is
as strong as I have seen in
my 30 years working in the
trade”. Horner’s next sale
has been scheduled for
early November.
� A collection of 116 Surrey
topographicals secured
the top price at Dalkeith’s
auction at Bournemouth in
May when it sold for £187.
A range of village and town
views was in the lot.
� Trevor Vennett-Smith
Auctions will have a collection
of some 20,000 aviation
postcards from the
1950s and 1960s in their
sale this month.
20 Picture Postcard Monthly July 2011
eBay notes
Standout postcard on eBay
in the past month was an
official of the Union-Castle
liner RMS Scot (illustrated
bottom of page), which had
three bidders chasing it up
to a massive £1,000. Titanic
postcards were also strong
on the internet auction site
in the past month, with
many artist-drawn cards on
offer. Best was an unusual
size comparison postcard
featuring the liner and the
Eiffel Tower, while an
impression of the disaster
made £494, one (above)
showing Captains Smith
and Phillips £373, and
another with a montage of
Captain Smith and other
notables £345. A postcard
showing the liner hitting the
iceberg realised £318, and
one of the iconic liner leaving
Cherbourg sold for
£278. Two examples of the
relatively common coloured
art card made £95 and £82.
A real photographic postcard
of both Olympic and
Titanic being built in Belfast
went for £388. A selection of
Louis Wains sold for
between £52 and £63 each.
A lot of the 103 sets of
Dalkeith railway cards,
including the various scarce
issues, went for £200.
Other highlights:
Golf, 1905 St. Andrews Open
(below) £270
Shipping, RP of Kolbein,
Norway £225
Hong Kong, Chatham Road £200
Hong Kong, Chinese Peak RP
£186
Argentina, vet’s surgery £186
(six others in the series sold
for £96 - £163)
Polesworth, morris dancers
£178
Rie Cramer, Months of the year
(12) £161
RMS Olympic, menu postcard
£158
China, hand-painted art £143
(another made £137)
Guernsey LL 127 (church of St.
Matthew, Cobo) £135
White Star Line offices, London
£124
Malta, Gozo RP £120
China, princes £117
Easter Rising, Joseph Plunkett
£116
Cricklade, fire brigade £114
Cricket, Jack Hobbs RP £113
Hong Kong, Peninsula Hotel
£113
Guernsey LL 207 (Druids Altar)
£113
Billiards, George Gray £113
SS Olympic/HMS Hawke
collision £112
Jersey, LL12 £112
Turkish soldier £109
Bridport, street scene £108
Railway station, Sherburn
Colliery £102
Easter Rising, remembrance
postcard £99
Cricket, Wally Hardinge RP £99
Suffragette comic £98
China, fisherman’s pagoda £98
Kobe (Japan) railway engine
£96
Constantinople, street view £93
Kobe, shopfront (below) £91
Norway, card pu to USA 1896
£91
St. Helena, Wiltshire Regt £91
Ringmer, shops £91
Embroidered silk, Royal Irish
rifles £90
Judaica, Poland £90
Guernsey, Les Vauxbelets £90
Sheffield, railway strike 1911
£90
Shotley Spa RP £88
Tokyo, Triumphal Gate £87
Brazil, map card £87
Spitsbergen, Norway, Gruss
aus £86
Hong Kong, street scene £85
POW camp, Doberitz, art £80
Emb’d silk, 1925 Br Emp Ex £79
Reigate, procession £78
Golf, St. Andrews Road Hole
£77
Railway, Malaya £77
Kobe (Japan), street scene £75
Norfolk, VC winner £74
Emb’d silk, Prees Heath Camp
£72
Ski-ing, Cresta run £72
Catford, shops £70
Aston Villa FC 1913-14 £70
Derry City FC £70
Billiards, Gruss aus Berlin £70
Singapore, street scene £69
Aviation, Aer Lingus Viking £69
Singapore, post office £69
Slovenia, street scene £68
Japan, light railway £68
Royalty, King of Siam £68
Dancing bear, Pyrenees £66
Co. Derry, 1950s multiview £65
Moscow, street scene £63
Chile, Gruss aus £62
French Polynesia, native hut £62
Tokyo, trams £61
Cyprus, costume £60
Pulham Market rly station £60
Arnold, shopfront £60
Chinese actress £59
South Georgia, whale £59
RP Phillimore, Canty Bay £58
Jersey, St. Aubins street scene
£57
Windmill, Lytham £56
Faversham, pub £55
Hong Kong, scenic £55
Ross-on-Wye, car & charabanc
£52
AR Quinton, Budleigh Salterton
(continued on page 25)