Limuru Native Market - 1950s

Another extremely fine real photo postcard issued by Pegas Studio, Nairobi as part of their "Africa in Pictures" series issued during the 1950s. It is in near mint, uncirculated condition and features an image taken by S. Skulina, a commercial photographer working in Kenya in those years.

Entitled "Limuru Native Market", this is a wonderful example of the picture postcards which were so popular in the 1950s featuring traditional ways of life and different cultures and ethnicities and which today serve as a pictorial history.

The main item for sale in this market, seen lined up in rows in the foreground, would seem to be the African bottle gourd, which was typically used as a utensil across some parts of Africa. Left to mature before being harvested, these gourds or calabashes, were then hollowed out, dried and used as either bottles, bowls, or even pipes. I love the curved necks and organic forms of these handmade and totally unique bottles! Limuru itself, on the other hand, is best known for the large amounts of high quality Kenyan tea it produces.

Beth at The Best Hearts are Crunchy is holding today's Postcard Friendship Friday, where you'll find more vintage postcards and meet other collectors.

Under the Umbrella - 1942

Apart from the bizarre weather of last week, when it snowed in Rome for the first time in 24 years, this winter has been one of the wettest for years. In fact, I woke up this morning to the sound of rain, so I thought this 1942 Italian rainy day postcard issued by Milanese publishing giant Cecami would be a good choice today! The child is wondering from whence the big rain drop is coming even though he is under a big umbrella - “Donde viene il gocciolone, Se son sotto all'ombrellone”!

The postcard is uncirculated, but on the reverse the issue date is clearly marked as Luglio (July) 1942 and it bears the distinctive Cecami logo which is still in use today. I'm not usually a big fan of the overly cute in vintage postcards, but this card has such a beautiful range of colours and printing finish that I couldn't resist it. The printed area has a matte finish with a slight dull sheen if tilted to the light and the details of the crayoned drawing make it almost appear hand-drawn at very first glance, which makes me think some kind of lithographic printing method was used.

Whilst the initials M.M. - the only clue to the illustrator behind this artist signed postcard - appear on many Italian comic or humorous postcards of those years, I've been unable to discover anything more about the artist. I imagine that he or she probably worked in-house for Cecami – as always, if anybody has any further information then do drop me a line in the comments below.

Find more vintage postcards at Marie's Cpaphil Vintage Postcard Blog and join other collectors on Postcard Friendship Friday.

Yuri Gagarin and Gina Lollobrigida – issued 1969

Last summer I was lucky enough to attend the opening of a photography exhibition of work by none other than the Italian actress and authentic living legend Gina Lollobrigida who has been a keen photographer for many, many years. I remember noticing a photograph that she had taken of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, so I was particularly pleased to come across this 1969 postcard of the two of them together - the Italian diva's camera is prominent in the foreground of the image!

This vintage uncirculated postcard was issued as part of a pack of 25 souvenir cards illustrating moments in the life of Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin in the year following his premature death at only 34 after his pane crashed during a routine training flight. On 12 April 1961, he had became the first man to travel in outer space and the first to orbit the Earth. Appropriately, the name of the Moscow postcard publisher in the Soviet Union translates as “Planet” (Disclaimer: I'm putting all my faith in the results of Google translate here!) The postcards are printed, rather than real photographs, but the entire pack is still a lovely item.

I actually had lots of fun with this card when I discovered a website which allows one to type Russian letters without a Russian keyboard - using this website combined with Google translate I roughly mananged to get the gist of the blurb on the back of the card:

A man who had been in Space! What's it like? Hundreds of thousands of people wanting to shake his hand, to say a kind word ... Yuri Gagarin, and the Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida. 

If any of you read Russian please feel free to correct this translation in the comments below!

 

And whilst we're remembering Yuri Gagarin, here's a great montage of images - look out for Gina Lollobrigida again! Click here to go to YouTube or watch below:

Find more vintage postcards at Marie's Cpaphil Vintage Postcard Blog and join other collectors on Postcard Friendship Friday.

'Verlassen bin i' or 'Forsaken' - early 1900s

This German real photograph vintage postcard has to be one of the most moving that I own. It was produced by Photochemie, a Berlin company with their own printing plant and appears to be a bromide print judging by the overall matte surface but light, almost metallic-looking tarnishing around the edges of the central image. The theme of being forsaken on this card is a frequent one on early vintage German postcards, but more often than not they deal with the temporary separation of sweethearts, rather than death and loss.

Whilst the postcard is uncirculated and therefore undated, its divided back and the clothing give us a few clues as to when it might have been produced. Germany introduced the divided back in 1905 and from the style of the traditional clothing which looks more Austrian than German I would say that this card is no later than 1914-15 and beginning of the First World War. This is, I hasten to add however, only a guess. If anybody has any other suggestions, please drop me a line in the comments box!

The words on the card are from the second verse of the Carinthian folk song Forsaken (or rather Verlassen Bin or sometime simply Verlassen), written by Austrian composer Thomas Koschat (1845–1914) in 1862. Koschat formed the Koschat Quartet (Rudolf Traxler, Walter Fourness, Georg Haan and Clemens Fochler) and was apparently rather well known in Europe and the US where he toured extensively. Outside Europe he may not be a household name, but certainly most people will be familiar with the music for this song which was adopted for James Montgomery's hymn The Lord is My Shepherd.

Thanks to the Hymn Studies blog I managed to find a translation of the original folk song which fits the image on the card perfectly .

Forsaken, forsaken, forsaken am I;
Like the stone in the causeway, my buried hopes lie;
I go to the churchyard, My eyes filled with tears;
And kneeling I weep there, Oh, my love, loved for years.

A mound in the churchyard, that blossoms hang o'er;
It is there my love sleepeth, to waken no more;
'Tis there all my footsteps, my passions all lead;
And there my heart turneth, I'm forsaken indeed.

I promise to post something cheerier next time round! In the meantime enjoy listening to the music in the video at the end of this post or click here to view on YouTube.

Find more vintage postcards at Marie's Cpaphil Vintage Postcard Blog and join other collectors on Postcard Friendship Friday.

Piccadilly Circus, London - 1950

When I was a child growing up in the UK, whenever a place would get particularly busy or crowded it wouldn't be too long before an adult would exclaim: It's like Piccadilly Circus in here! This photograph taken almost twenty years before my birth shows just how busy a thoroughfare it really was even back in the 1950s. First built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly (both visible in this image), with its memorial fountain and aluminium statue of Anteros, more popularly referred to as Eros, added in 1892-93, Piccadilly Circus is now one of London's most recognisable landmarks. The traditional double-decker London Buses are, of course, instantly recognisable too and the central bus is advertising another British institution - McDougall’s Self-Rising Flour!

This sepia toned real photograph postcard was printed with a high gloss finish by postcard publishing giant Valentine & Sons Ltd. and on the reverse features its classic "Valentine's" logo with the initial V and two globes indicating their once worldwide business (they had long since sold their interests outside of Great Britain back in 1923). As was often the case with their photographic cards, this image has been named and numbered on the front by hand.

The postmark on this card is hard to read but the year would seem to end in a zero, which I assume makes this a late usage of a 2 ½ d (old pence) George VI definitive postage stamp which was in use from 1937 - 1947.



Whilst doing a bit of research about this postcard I came across this wonderful film - Journey by a London Bus in 1950 - a time-capsule movie which fits this post beautifully. Watch it below or click here to watch on YouTube!

Find more vintage postcards at Marie's Cpaphil Vintage Postcard Blog and join other collectors on Postcard Friendship Friday.

Happy Birthday Elvis!

8th January, 2010, would have been Elvis Presley's 75th birthday. Whilst fans all over the world are listening to his music and watching his movies, I wanted to join the millions of other bloggers saying Happy Birthday to the King with this vintage postcard. Published by Star Pics, this postcard was posted on 19th July, 1963 from Lowestoft in the United Kingdom, presumably, judging by the handwriting, from a very young Elvis fan.

The black and white photo of Elvis is a promotional shot for the movie Blue Hawaii, taken by rock music photographer Michael Ochs at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles, California on 1st April, 1961. Curiously, the image appears to have been printed from a flipped negative.

Many thanks to my "Little Sister" Jac - a fellow Elvis fan - who owns this postcard!

Find more vintage postcards at Marie's Cpaphil Vintage Postcard Blog and join other collectors on Postcard Friendship Friday. Today her post is entitled "God Save the Queen" so this post about a "King" seems to fit very well!

Bonne année - 1926

As the festive season draws to a close today with Twelfth Night, I thought I'd sneak in another French New Year's greetings postcard - a Bonne année real photograph postcard printed in France, but posted from Verviers in Belgium in 1926.

Published by Paris printers Dédé as part of series 1069, it's another wonderful example of a hand-tinted vintage postcard. I confess that my primary motivation for buying this card was that I fell in love with the detailed colouring on the woman's hat! It's also such a perfect example of how postcards can serve as a historical record of fashions and styles of different times.