Sunday Stamps 41 - the Philippine Islands

As Sunday Stamps continues its journey around the globe, I was initially stumped to find something relevant. I was sure I had plenty of Japanese stamps to share, but either I was imagining it or I was looking in the wrong place. Fortunately however the Philippine Islands came to my rescue, so here a a few stamps from there.

4 pesos stamp from the Philippine Islands

Two 6s stamps from the Philippines (Pilipinas) showing Jose Rizal

    

Sepia Saturday 97 - Children's Corner

For this week's Sepia Saturday I am staying loosely on theme, and in fact building on the theme of children in Alan's posting by sharing a handful of vintage postcards of Children's Corners. Having come across one on a vintage postcard some time ago, I was surprised to find them fairly common and came across 2 further ones. Apart from the first one however, there seems to be a distinct lack of children.

Bournemouth, Children's Corner, c.1953

Blackpool, Children's Corner, c.1920

Scarborough, Children's Corner

As usual 100's of vintage postcards can be found on my web site.

Theme Thursday - New

I had a few options for this week's Theme Thursday theme of 'new' but finally decided on this vintage postcard of the Lower Square, Dover, New Hampshire. This is a linen style, vintage postcard published by Tichnor, number 75922. I love the vibrant colours and the quirky looking cars on this postcard which almost make it look as though it could have leapt straight from the pages of a Richard Scary children's book.

Vintage postcard of Lower Square, Dover, New Hampshire

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Sunday Stamps 40 - Mainland Asia

Last week was a bit of a blur and I managed to miss Sunday Stamps, so was pleased to see a theme that I could contribute to this week. The first stamps below are a block of four, black 1c stamps dating back to 1937.

Malaya, Straits Settlements, c.1937

 The second set of stamps are commemorating the Silver Wedding Anniversary of George VI and the Quenn Mother.

Malaya, Malacca, c.1948 

The geography of these states at the time is, to me, a little confusing in places, but I think I'm right in saying that Malacca was one of the British Straits Settlements, along with Dingding, Penang and Singapore. Malay itself comprising of the Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States and the British Straits Settlements. I'm quite sure however that it's a lot more complex than this so when I can find the time perhaps I'll have to do a bit more in depth research, but hopefully the lovely stamps can make up for any shortcomings in my research to date.

    

Vintage postcards of Dublin

For this week's Postcard Friendship Friday I thought I'd share some vintage postcards of Dublin that I picked up a couple of months back, which as with so many others remain in the 'to be processed' pile. Most of these old postcards have been written but not actually posted, so unfortunately I am unable to share the date, but would guess the first one is probably 1930's, and the other three probably 1900's - 1920's. I particularly like the trams on the wide, but relatively uncrowded streets.

O'Connell Street, Dublin

Phoenix Park, Dublin

Sackville Street, Dublin

St. Stephen's Green, Dublin

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

    

Sepia Saturday 96 - Southampton Docks

Once again I am struggling to stay on theme for Sepia Saturday, and this week I've also decided against making a tenuous link. Instead I have dipped into my pile of unprocessed, recently acquired vintage postcards and come up with this one of the Pier at Southampton. What I particularly like about this postcard is the number of ships either moored, queuing, or travelling in convoy in the background. I suspect this is no longer a frequent site in Southampton these days, and I would imagine that the railway tracks no longer go right down on to the pier.

Vintage postcard of the pier, Southampton

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

    

Theme Thursday - Fish

Good to see Theme Thursday back up and running. Apologies for being a bit late this week but work has been a bit crazy these past few days. I thought this vintage postcard, called Hope, of fisherman suited this week's theme of Fish quite well. The image on the postcard conjures up quite a romantic vision of fishing but I've never been a fisherman. However, I was in the pub last weekend with a very enthusiastic friend who had been fishing that day and actually had taken pictures on his mobile phone of all the fish he caught that day.

Vintage postcard of a man fishing, c.1908

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

    

Vintage postcards of Dutch children, clogs and windmills

I came across this old postcard a few weeks ago but until now it had managed to hide itself away towards the bottom of the 'to be processed' pile. It's a vintage postcard from 1913 of, I assume, a Dutch boy, in clogs and smoking a pipe. The postcard was published by Meissner & Buch in the 'Jung Holland' series.

Dutch boy with clogs and a pipe, c.1913

Even further in my distant memory was another Dutch vintage postcard I picked up a few years ago. Thanks to filing the scans under something meaningful (and memorable) I was able to find this one as well.

Dutch children, published by Heritage Mint

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Sepia Saturday 95 - Letter From Mama

Try as I may, for this week's Sepia Saturday I am alas not theming. Instead I am offering up a vintage postcard called 'Letter From Mama', c.1903. The postcard was published by S.Hildesheimer and the written greeting reads 'We have received a letter from M to say they will not be able to visit us on Sunday. Love from all.' Maybe however, one of these girls moved to Denmark and became a suffragette, or maybe the letter is from their mother, who happened to be a suffragette in Denmark.Alternatively I could just be clutching at straws trying to make up for my inability to theme this week.

Letter from Mama, c.1903

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site, and frustratingly still a pile of 200 or so to process.

    

Sunday Stamps 38 - British Architecture (Cathedrals) c.1969

Well, coming from Europe and having a reasonable number of British stamps, I was spoilt for choice for my submission for this week's Sunday Stamps. I did originally think of sharing some Victorian stamps, but although interesting the colours are quite muted, so I decided to jump forwards 100 years and share a First Day Cover from Elizabeth II's reign in 1969. I'm not quite sure why the theme, whilst claiming to be 'architecture' is exclusively Cathedrals. I would have thought that there were plenty of other great architectural feats like palaces and bridges which could have been equally good candidates.

First Day Cover, British Architecture, c.1969

The architectural feats pictured on the stamps are clockwise from top left:

Durham Cathedral

York Minster

St. Paul's Cathedral

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral

St. Giles Edinburgh

and the cover itself shows Coventry Cathedral.

    

Postcard Friendship Friday - Birthday Horoscope (Sagittarius)

Despite going to various postcard events, and rummaging through antique and charity shops, I have never come across a vintage Halloween postcard here in the UK. However, not wanting to be left out of this week's Postcard Friendship Friday I have decided to share a vintage birthday postcard instead. This is in Valentine's Birthday Horoscope series, and shows the star sign Sagittarius.

Vintage birthday greetings postcard, c.1943

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site