Sepia Saturday 220 - vintage postcards of statues

A quick scour through my vintage postcards helped me out again for this week's Sepia Saturday theme of statues. These are all from London, or its surrounding areas.

First up is a vintage postcard of the Statue of Diana in Bushey Park, Hampton Court. This statue was originally commissioned for Somerset House, but has been in Bushey Park since 1713.

Vintage postcard of the Statue of Diana, Bushey Park, Hampton Court 

Easy to miss, but no visit to London's Hyde Park can be considered complete without seeing the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. The author of Peter Pan, J.M.Barrie lived close to the gardens and used them for inspiration.

Vintage postcard of the Peter Pan statue, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, London

Located in Waterloo Place, just off London's Regent Street, is the Crimean War memorial, commemorating the allied forces victory in the Crimean War. The statue is by John Bell and features three guardsmen beneath the allegorical figure, Honour. The statue was made from the bronze cannons captured at the siege of Sevastopol.

Vintage postcard of the Crimean Memorial, Waterloo Place, London

I've not been able to find out anything about this next one - maybe someone out there knows?

Vintage postcard of statue at Mansion House, London

And finally, needing no introduction, is Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London.

Vintage postcard Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London

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

    

Sepia Saturday 219 - vintage postcards of domes

Once again, it's way too long since I've posted anything on my vintage postcards blog. My energies of late have been steered towards my In Search of Space blog, chronicling my various Urban Wanders around London, and other places, in search of ghost signs, abandonment, decay, etc. However, I found this week's Sepia Saturday theme irresistible, and relatively easy. From the image chosen this week I have selected domes.

Vintage postcard of St. Paul's Cathedral, London 

 Vintage postcard of St. Paul's Cathedral, London

Vintage postcard of the Greenwich Observatory, London

Vintage postcard of Smithfield Market, London

Vintage postcard of the National Gallery, London

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

Sepia Saturday 191 - Victorian carte de visite (CDV)

Is it me or does Saturday come around quicker each week? This is of course a good thing as it means it's the weekend, but also means I have to get my brain engaged in other activity, like coming up with a post for Sepia Saturday. As the prompt says though, there's plenty in this week's post to choose from. My immediate thought was hats, but I did that for my blog post last week, so instead I'm going for facial hair and share a few carte de visite (CDV) that I acquired recently.

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Elliott & Fry, London

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Mowls, King's Lynn, Norfolk

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Sinclair & Co., London

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Chas F Wing, Exeter

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

    

Sepia Saturday 180: hospitals

I was a bit torn for this week's Sepia Saturday as to whether to theme on trains or hospitals but eventually decided on hospitals, as I have blogged on trains several times before.

Vintage postcard of Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot

Vintage postcard of St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol

Vintage postcard of the Hospital Gate, Cirencester Abbey

Vintage postcard of Herriot's Hospital, Edinburgh

Vintage postcard of Greenwich Hospital

And finally, whilst on the hospital theme, here's the Outpatients Entrance of an abandoned hospital somewhere in London, near Russell Square from memory, that I found when I was out Urban Wandering through London a few months ago.

Old hospital, near Russell Square, London

As usual 100's more vintage postcards can be found on my web site, and for anyone interesting in my Urban Wandering then pop over to my In Search of Space blog.

    

Sepia Saturday 144 - Admiralty Arch, London

For the 2nd week running I have been almost too busy to participate in Sepia Saturday. The only plus side of this morning's dark and damp weather is that I have managed to find a few minutes to produce a submission, albeit not on theme this week. The vintage postcards below are of Admiralty Arch in London, which sits at the opposite end of the Mall to Buckingham Palace. When I used to have meetings in our old office in the Strand, instead of getting the tube across from Paddington I would oftern walk down through Hyde Park, Green Park, and then along the Mall, going under Admiralty Arch before weaving my way along the Strand to the office.

Admiralty Arch, London

Admiralty Arch, showing the Mall and Buckingham Palace, London

As usual 100's of vintage postcards including plenty of London can be found on my web site

    

Theme Thursday - beds

It's been a while since I participated in Theme Thursday as recently I've been working away a lot, but I'm back in for this week's theme of beds. However my take on the theme is perhaps a bit different than expected. Rather than a bed to sleep in I have opted instead for a flower bed, and what better place for a flower bed than Regent's Park in London. This is a Raphael Tuck vintage postcard dating back to1908.

Flower beds, Regents Park, London, c.1908

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

    

Sepia Saturday 131 - all the fun of the fair

I know I have shared one of these vintage postcards before when I wrote a posting about the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition last year some time, but please excuse me for a degree of repetition as they seem to fit this week's Sepia Saturday theme quite well. They are both vintage postcards of a ride called Flip-Flap which boatsed 150 foot arms topped with carriages, each holding 40 or so people, providing them with spectacular views as far out as Windsor and Crystal Palace.

1908 Franco-British Exhibition, Flip-Flap

1908 Franco-British Exhibition, Flip-Flap

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

    

Sepia Saturday 127 - market

I was going to take cattle from the photo prompt for this week's Sepia Saturday, but as I've done that before, I decided to go with markets instead. Here are a selection of vintage postcards of markets. I visited Dunster last summer and the Yarn Market is still there but the street looks somewhat different, and I seem to recall quite a traffic bottleneck in places. The Covent Garden shown in the second postcard is the same premises as occupied by the existing Covent Garden, but the market aspect of ot has moved to New Covent Garden Market in South London, with the old Covent Garden being filled with shops, pubs and cafes. Unfortunately I don't know much about the third postcard as I don't think I've ever been to Ross, although we did come close last weekend when we toured around Herefordshire.

Yarn Market, Dunster, Somerset

Covent Garden Market, London

Market House, Ross

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

    

Sunday Stamps 70 - votes for women

Well unfortunately I don't seem to have any stamps which specifically refer to Mother's Day (plus it's not actually Mother's Day here in the UK today ... ours is in March) but as the theme on this week's Sunday Stamps was extended to cover, amongst other things, women's rights, I have featured this stamp from 1968 commemorating 50 years of women having the vote. It shows the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, which is in Victoria Tower Gardens, London SW1.

Votes for Women, commemorative stamp, c.1968

    

Sunday Stamps 68 - Philympia 1970

Stamps about stamps ... what an interesting theme for this week's Sunday Stamps. After a few moments trying to get my brain into gear on this wet and grey Sunday morning, I remembered this one from 1970. Well, when I say remembered, I was only 5 at the time, but what I mean is that I remembered it being in my first day cover album. So, a rummage in the old suitcase that holds my stamp albums, and a quick leaf through the covers and I found it. The stamp and cover commemorate the 1970 International Philatelic Exhibition, held in Olympia, London, from 18th to 26th September.

First Day Cover, Philympia 1970

    

Sailing ships on the Thames

Unfortunately Fridays are no longer the day they used to be for me, and instead of working from home, I seem to spend most Fridays in London now, which typically means I end up missing Postcard Friendship Friday. So here's a late, but hopefully enjoyable, contribution. Both vintage postcards are from Raphael Tuck's Old Father Thames series II, and are by the artist Wyllie.

Greenwich Hospital

Royal Corinthian Club, Port Victoria

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

    

Sepia Saturday 119 - Work

I don't seem to have any postcards or magazines featuring people actually working for this week's Sepia Saturday theme of work, so I've had to opt for people going to or from work. In this case it's people crossing London Bridge on their way to and from work in the early 1900's.

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

    

Theme Thursday - Corner

Hopefully although it's Saturday I'm not too late to participate in this week's Theme Thursday of Corner. I had several vintage postcards of corners to chose from but liked these ones of Hyde Park Corner, London as they are probably the more well know corners I have.

Hyde Park Corner, London

Hyde Park Corner, London

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

    

London War Office - vintage postcard, early 1900's

Every so often I come across a vintage postcard which really stands out from the crowd. This can sometimes be a magnificent view, incredible colours, or simply a fantastic subject. When I found this particular postcard I felt it met all those criteria and more, so am very happy to share it with you all on this week's Postcard Friendship Friday. It's a vintage postcard of the War Office in London, in the early 1900's. The view is along Whitehall with Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey silhouetted in the background. A quick bit of research shows that the building has 7 floors, 1000 rooms and 2.5 miles of corridors. It's still in use today as a government office but is not open to the public, and is no doubt swamped by traffic.

London, The War Office, published by Raphael Tuck

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

    

Sunday Stamps 45 - Economic Summit 1984

Given that the theme this week on Sunday Stamps was anything you wish I dipped into my childhood First Day Cover album and was struck by this one. Given the poignancy of the current economic climate, this one seemed apt. It's a British First Day Cover featuring a gutter pair of 31p stamps commemorating the London Economic Summit of 1984. Slightly ironic that such an event was commemorated in the past as a specific event rather than the day-to-day business it has become of late.

London Economic Summit, First Day Cover, c.1984

    

Sunday Stamps 44 - 1948 Olympic Games

It was a difficult choice for me for this week's Sunday Stamps Sports theme. The deicison I faced was between the 1966 World Cup stamps, or the 1948 Olympic Games stamps. Given that it's Olympic year again this year, I have opted for the latter. As with all stamps of this era, the colours are muted and understated, but I actually like this more low-key approach, with the brown 1 shilling stamp being my favourite of the four. Given the current state of the worldwide economies, I thought it was also fitting that these games are also referred to as the Austerity Olympics.

1948 Olympic Games

    

Theme Thursday: Square

I'm a bit late again this week for Theme Thursday as I've been working away this week. I like the 'square' theme and have found something that fits the theme in 2 ways.

Vintage postcard of Leicester Square, London, c.1905

and on the back of the postcard ... a 1905 Alfreton squared Circle postmark

100's more vintage postcards can be found on my web site

    

Sunday Stamps 24: International Stamp Exhibition, 1980

Sort of continuing from last week's Sunday Stamps theme of se-tenant stamps, I have chosen one of my favourite first day covers for this week. It's the British Post Office Third Miniature Sheet, issued to commemorate the 1980 International Stamp Exhibition, held in London. This is, in effect, a stamp within a stamp. The inner stamp was 50p, and the outer stamp was 25p which was put towards the cost of running the exhibition.

International Stamp Exhibition, Miniature Sheet, First Day Cover, c.1980

    

Sepia Saturday 78: Not the tallest but one of the greatest

Apologies for the somewhat bold claim in the title of my post this week for Sepia Saturday, but it's how I feel about Big Ben ... ok so that's not quite factually correct as Big Ben is actually the name of the great bell inside the clock, but its use as the name of the whole structure is now common place. Whilst it may not be the tallest building ever made, to my mind it's one of the most impressive. This vintage postcard sums it up for me quite nicely, and the sky in the background is looking quite impressive, albeit in a menacing way, as well.

Big Ben, London, vintage postcard published by Raphael Tuck

    

More vintage postcards of London can be found on my web site

Vintage postcard of Golders Green Crematorium

A curious postcard to share today. When I first saw this I thought that given the terracotta colouring it was perhaps of somewhere in Italy. It wasn't until I had a closer look at home that I realised that it was in fact Golders Green in North London. Now, I have been to Golders Green on occasions, but admittedly only to change buses having somehow arrived there descending from Hampstead Heath. However, after the tiniest amount of research, I have found that firstly it's still around today, and also that it's 'home' to various famous people including Marc Bolan, Kingsley Amis, Sid James, Sigmund Freud, Keith Moon, and countless others. Perhaps I'll have to pay a visit next time I'm round that way.

Memorial Cloister, Golders Green Crematorium, vintage postcard from the original water-colour drawing by Mary Hill.

    

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