Vintage Postcards of Happy Valley

I'm not sure I've ever been to a place called "Happy Valley". It almost sounds as though it belongs inside some sort of theme park. Of course the Monkeys sang about "Pleasant Valley Sunday", but again it always sounded somewhat fictional, even if perhaps an accurate relection of mid-60's suburban pleasantry. However, I have come across vintage postcards of Happy Valley, and what's more, there are several different Happy Valleys.

Happy Valley from Great Orme, Llandudno, Wales, c.1964

Happy Valley, Malvern, c.1957

Happy Valley, Westcliff-on-Sea

Happy Valley, Tunbridge Wells, c.1912

I'm very sure there are tens of other Happy Valleys out there, just waiting for me to find.

Vintage postcards by the artist Charles Flower

Three beautiful, artist drawn, vintage postcards by the artrist Charles E Flower. Postcards were all published by Raphael Tuck.

1. The Baptistery, Canterbury Cathedral, Tuck's oilette, series 7021
2. The Choir, Westminster Abbey, Tuck's oilette, series 7033
3. Entrance to St. James's Palace, Tuck's Aquarette, series 6257

See my web site for loads more Raphael Tuck postcards

Raphael Tuck vintage postcards - Cornish Coast Series

Today's vintage postcard selection comprises of 3 beautiful, artist drawn postcards by the artist H.B.Wimbush. Dating from around 1909, these postcards are all published by Raphael Tuck in the "Cornish Coast" series, number 9723. Two of them have smooth borders whilst the third one has a textured border ... maybe there was more than one priniting of this series?

Falmouth, Pendennis Point

St. Michael's Mount

The Island, Newquay, c.1909

See my vintage postcards by Raphael Tuck page for more.

Vintage postcards with embossed borders

A couple of vintage postcards today with embossed borders. It's always surprised me how much detail went into making some of these cards. The first is of The Bridge of Sighs, St. John's College, Cambridge. The picture on the card is nice enough, but the embossed green and gold border finishes the card off well. On my version the green border has cracked a little, giving it an almost leather-like look.

The next postcard is of a busy scene around the Pavilion, Ramsgate, Kent, c.1910. Again the picture on the postcard is interesting enough to stand on its own, but the finishing touch of the detailed gold border makes it stand out even more.

More vintage postcards like these on my web site. Feel free to have a look around.

Vintage Christmas postcards

A couple more vintage Christmas postcards today. The one of a child is from 1906 but is somewhat odd, in that apart from the Christmas greeting does not seem Christmas-like at all.

The other one was published by Stewart and Woolf, series number 654, and dates back to 1907

Vintage postcards of pools

I'm not talking about swimming pools, or outdoor bathing pools (although I do have some postcards covering those areas as well). What I'm referring to here are probably best described as small lakes, some inland and freshwater, some tidal.

The first one is a Harvey Barton postcard of The Blue Pool, near Wareham in Dorset. Lovely colours but clearly heavily tinted or 'colourised'. It's postally unused so no idea of date.

The second one is a Frith postcard of The Silent Pool, Shere, Surrey. This one is postally used and was posted from Guildford to Basingstoke on 16th April 1906. The greeting in the card reads "Arrived safe - went to Silent Pool Friday, went to Jack's yesterday, and hope to go to Godalming today, so you see have been very busy. All well here."

Linen vintage postcards of the USA

I generally only tend to collect postcards of Great Britain, but over the years have managed to accumulate a reasonable number from other countries. Interestingly a bunch of Curteich, linen postcards were amongst my first acquisitions when I caught the postcard bug about 5 years ago, and it wasn't until I was doing a bit of organising recently that I re-discovered them. This one is of Point Lookout, East Windham, New York state, on the Mohican Trail in the Catskills. It was published by C.W.Hughes and Co., number 9A-H194.

This next postcard is of The Old Man of the Mountains by Moonlight, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This one does not have a publisher's name, but is numbered 132L

I'm very sure that these range and style of postcards cover many more subjects and states than I have found. The ones I've come across seem to be mainly topographic postcards of New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Visit my web site to see more vintage postcards of the USA.

Black Cat Carries the Christmas Pudding - vintage Christmas card

Ok, so this is a vintage Christmas card rather than a vintage postcard, but isn't it great? It's published by Wildt and Kray. I just love the expression on the cat's face, it's kind of like "well why on earth wouldn't you expect to see a black cat in red bow-tie carrying a Christmas pudding".

Sea and Sky - Vintage Postcards by Raphael Tuck

My vintage postcards blog entry today is centred around two artist drawn, oilette postcards by Raphael Tuck. The first is in the "Sea and Sky" series II, number 3318, by the artist R.Montague. This is a really beautiful card with a textured finish. Mine is creased unfortunately, but in a strange way it seems to add to the beauty of the card. The postcard is not postally used but I would guess it dates somewhere between 1903 and 1910. What I like best about this card is the vivid colors, particular the reflection of the ship's sail in the water.

The second postcard is of Conway From the River, by the artist Hadfield H Cubley. It's not in the "Sea and Sky" series but would fit well. This postcard is used and dates back to 1905. The greeting on the card reads "Dear C, Am coming by the 3:45 from Sidey. Hope you will be in Tonbridge and then we can go home tigether. Hoping you are all well, with fond love to all, from Annie" . This postcard has a much more sombre feel to it. It's beautifully detailed but the colours are much less vivid that the Montague card. The people in the foreground of the postcard, helping to drag the boat out on to the estuary, almost seem to be out of proportion to the rest of the detail on the card. Maybe they're meant to be children?

If you're interested in seeing more, why not take a look at my web site for more Raphael Tuck vintage postcards.

Wharfs, quays and ships - a vintage postcard of London

I'm pretty sure that in the past I've gone on at length about my love of London. Typically though I find that the majority of vintage postards are of major sites and tourist attractions. Whilst these can sometimes be interesting, they do become a bit ordinary after a while. When I come across a less usual type of card then that's always something to shout about, and that's why I'm blogging today. The postcard here is a Raphael Tuck postcard of Tower Bridge and the Tower, which although not particularly unusual in itself, is interesting because of the foreground which shows quays, wharfs and ships of a bye-gone era. Whilst I love the redevelopment of this part of London, I do think that much of the original character has been lost, and in particular the fact that London was once a thriving port has been lost forever. This postcard captures some of that history.

Vintage postcard of Connaught Waters, Chingford

Until this evening I had always assumed this area of Chingford was long gone, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Connaught Waters still exists, and the pictures I saw on the web don't look a whole lot different to this vintage postcard from the early 1900's. The postcard was published by Wildt and Kray, series 530. It's artist drawn and I'm pretty sure there are 2 small initials in the lower right-hand corner of the card, but I can't decipher them. If anyone knows the artist, please let me know.

Dreaming Spires - vintage postcards of Oxford Colleges

Over the years I seem to have accidentally built up a modest collection of vintage postcards of the various Oxford colleges. These vary from some admittedly quite dull cards of Jesus College, generally published by Frith, to some stunning artist drawn/artist signed postcards. The college which seems to come up most frequently is Magdalen College, with its Founders' Tower, and also Jesus, Queens and Christchurch. One of my favourite Oxford college postcard is the one I've show here. This is an artist drawn postcard of the New College Cloisters, by the artist ESC, and published by Alden. This postcard is not dated but would guess it's around the 1940's. I have no idea regarding the identity of E.S.C. My normally trusty postcard reference book let me down on this one.

I have also found plenty of vintage postcards of the Cambridge colleges such as Clare, Kings, Trinity and St. John's, with the latter probably being the most common. The postcard below shows the entrance to King's College and is published by valentine.

As always you can find these vintage postcards, and plenty of others on my vintage postcard website.

Stow-on-the-Wold, by Sylvester H.Stannard

Just a single vintage postcard again today, mainly because I've been working away most of the week and really should be getting off to bed now. However, I thought I'd just share this one with everyone first. The is an artist drawn/artist signed vintage postcard of The Green, Stow-on-the-Wold, in the Cotswolds, by the artist Sylvester H Stannard, and published by J.Salmon Ltd., number 4354. This is the first time I've come across this particular postcard artist but I'll certainly keep my eyes open for more. This is a really beautiful card of a lovely place. I've not been to Stow-on-the-Wold for ages and whilst I remember it being a quaint place, I'm not sure whether there's still a part of it that looks like this. I'll have to add it to my ever increasingly long list of places to visit.