5th August 2019
As Colin Such has recently said in an article, he wrote for Picture Postcard Monthly, we really do have the pleasure of seeing “some of the best postcards one could ever wish to see”.
Since joining the team in November last year, I have already seen a huge variety of cards and subjects. Admittedly, there are large number of cards that pass through our hands, that you see all the time. Then there are ones where the image is so charming and interesting, it stays with you.
Coming up in our September auction there is a range of Chinese topographical and social history cards that I have really enjoyed seeing. Every real photograph card in this lot is not only fascinating from a social history point of view, but is also very well framed. These thoughtfully taken images show them to be the work of a skilled photographer.
All the cards are superb but currently one card in particular stands out to me. It is a wonderful real photographic card depicting children watching a moving picture show. The detail in the image is so sharp and the central image is framed by the faces of the children waiting their turn making it a card full of life and interest.
This card depicting people eating street food is postally used, with the stamps cancelled with two 1917 Hankow postmarks. It also has a Tientsin postmark.
This street scene featuring a craftsman in the foreground, making metal rings for constructing barrels, is perfectly composed and a superb card.
The social history cards in this lot include both rural and urban views, with this image of a barber at work in the street.
Here a straw shoe salesman pauses in front of butchers and a knife shop.
The image of these farmers transporting monkey nuts makes for a really good card with superb activity.
And this farmer ploughing the fields with planks pulled by a water buffalo is a really detailed interesting card.
I am excited to see how this lot fares at our 18th September sale and hope it finds a home with someone who enjoys it as much as I do.
By Ella Ferneyhough