Sepia Saturday 169 - vintage postcards of obelisks and monuments

A return to my vintage postcards blog for this week's Sepia Saturday. I'm staying on theme this week but have looked a bit further into the distance on this week's picture, and am theming on the monument in the background. So, this be an obelisk, admittedly a mightily big one, my first picture is a sepia, vintage postcard of the obelisk (or obelisque) at Matarieh, which is in Cairo. I've written blog posts featuring vintage postcards of Egypt in the past, but don't think I included this postcard before.

Sepia, vintage postcard of the Obelisque at Matarieh, Cairo, Egypt

The next picture is also of an obelisk, and shows the Martyr's Monument and Bathing station at St. Andrew's, in Scotland. This vintage postcard is one I don't actually recall in my collection, but it came up when I searched through my database for monument. Interestingly it also features a bathing station, and although having written a vintage postcard blog post about outdoor baths and bathing pools back in 2010, I didn't feature this postcard then either.

Vintage postcard of the Martyr's Monument and Bathing Station, St. Andrew's, Scotland

Finally, we have the Wallace Monument, in Stirling, Scotland. This actually fits the theme in two ways, in that it aligns to my original choice of monuments, but is also artist drawn, so maybe there were a cluster of artists gathered around this landmark, bringing it to life on canvas.

Vintage postcard of the Wallace Monument, Stirling, Scotland

As usual, loads more vintage postcards can be found on my web site, and in fact over the past week or so I have added 70 or more new additions.

    

Sepia Saturday 70: Egyptian Camels

My vintage postcard collection is mainly focused on the UK, but of the other countries where I have a reasonable number of other postcards, Egypt is one of them. What I didn't realise until I looked through them was just how many featured camels, so perfect for following theme on this week's Sepia Saturday.The only thing missing is a politician ... but given that the Suez Canal is steeped in political history, I think that almost gives me the full theme set this week.

The Suez Canal, at the Curve of El Guirsh

The Pyramid of Cheops

 

En route for the fields

Sunset on the desert

More postcards of Egypt on my web site

Vintage postcards of Egypt

Today's vintage postcard blog entry covers vintage postcards from Egypt, and in particular those featuring boats and ships on the Suez Canal or the River Nile. My favourite one is the first one as the card along with the message evokes an image in my mind of travel 100 years ago. My assumtion is that the person who wrote the postcard is on the ship and the note on the front of the postcard which tells us that Arthur has passed through the Suez canal, and has made his way down to Colombo, the capital of what was then called Ceylon but now Sri Lanka. My guess is that he would be travelling on to India or possibly even to the Far East.

Une vue du canal de Suez (a view of the Suez Canal), Egypt

Back of the postcard shows an advertisment for Michel Handras, Egyptian cigarettes, and a pink, six cents Edward VII stamp, so posted in the 1902 - 1911 timeframe.

Port Said, the Port and Office of the Suez Canal Co., Egypt.

This postcard is postally unused so unfortunately I have no idea about date - suggestions welcome. I love the subtle colours on this postcard, particularly the contrast between the pink hue of the low sky, and the sea.

The Suez Canal, at the Curve of El Guirsh, Egypt

Again this postcard has not been posted so no clues to the date. Similar postcards I've seen suggest the 1920's or 1930's.


I have recently acquired about 50 postcards of Egypt which I've scanned in but need to find a quiet hour or so to get them on to my web site. In the mean time you may like to see my other vintage postcards on my vintage postcards web site