Saturday, July 23, 2011

Picture Postcard Centenary 1894-1994



This postcard is one of a series showing British stamps that commemorate the Centenary of Picture Postcards. There are some earlier postcards with printed stamps, but 1894 is the date when adhesive stamps were first allowed on postcards. The Picture Postcards 1894-1994series of stamps was issued by Royal Mail on 12 April 1994.

The comic illustrations on the stamps are typical of the British "saucy seaside postcard." These are relatively tame compared to many of the more vulgar and tacky seaside postcards.

This series of stamp cards consists of "postcards about stamps about postcards." This card is my favorite from the series because it shows a man writing postcards. It goes a step further, being a "postcard about a stamp about a postcard about postcards."



I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog




7 comments:

  1. And how much farther can we carry this? What if the man in the picture (of a stamp) was holding one of those saucy seaside postcards? ;-)

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  2. Great idea - a story within a story. Those saucy postcards are wonderful.

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  3. That was a lovely series of stamps :)

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  4. This is cool! Do you still have another one for swap? hahaha Just kidding.

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  5. I don't remember these ones at all, I mean the 1994 issue. The seaside postcards I can hardly miss. they still make them, still tacky.

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  6. I remember both the stamps - and the postcards - well. The main publisher of such seaside postcards was the firm of Bamforths which was based at Holmefirth, just a few miles from where I live.

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  7. Great storyline. The illustration is great, like you said, with the man actually writing a postcard. And it appears from the ones on the ground they look like they are from the same series as the subject.

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