The Sugar Loaf

This is a card from very early in the 20th century. I presume that the sugar loaf was a memorial of some sort. I’ve not been able to find out much about it. All I found was a later card for sale on eBay. There were no people in charming clothes and telegraph poles had been erected. My card is better!

I was pleased to see a comment from Alec Millard of Cherryland Postcards. He’s got a lovely postcard site with very different cards to mine. He’s chosen the same blogger background as me - a man of taste.

"I won't forget you"

I’m sorry I’ve been absent for such a long time. I‘ve been busy setting up our postcard business which means lots of paper work as well as preparing the cards for eBay (this is the door to our eBay). I’ve also had a lot more writing to do – strange how everything comes at the same time.

This card was sent in 1910 and was part of correspondence between friends made at someone’s wedding. An invitation to pass a Sunday together…

Death of a gangster

Now this one is a very interesting postcard. Here you see the French police carrying away the still alive body of the notorious Jules Bonnot. He met his end on April 28th 1912, after a shootout. The house he was hiding in had been surrounded by 500 police officers, soldiers, fireman, military engineers and a lynch mob. After firing for sometime the powers that be decided to dynamite the building, Bonnot was badly wounded and the police shot him 10 times in the upper body and once in the head. HE WAS STILL ALIVE when they removed him from the building (see card), the lynch mob was told that he was already dead.

What had he done to deserve such an end? He was a member of the notorious Bonnot Gang a band of anarchists who make Bonnie and Clyde look like angels. They were also the very first gang to use a getaway car! I got all of this information from Wikipedia so if you’d like to read the story in depth read Jules Bonnot and the Bonnot Gang.

More of Easter

These three were produced for Easter. Slightly newer than the previous card, I was pleased to find the set while sorting through a pile of postcards. Though they have stamps and are franked they were never sent through the post. I wonder if some collectors bought their cards and took them sraight to the post office to be made 'official'. Unfortunately I can't read the year.

If you would like to see them in more detail just click in the image.

Easter

This is a card which was sent in March 1904 and is a typical Easter card of the time. Cards at the very beginning of the 20th century had just the place for an address on the back. A message of any sort on that side was forbidden. Lots of older cards have space on the front to include a message.

Poisson d'avril!

In France the 1st of April is April fish day. The same idea as April fools day and if you’ve got children young enough, you’re likely to have the drawing of a fish pinned to your back. I think that one of the scenes in the film ‘ The French Connection’ showed the police sorting though a load of smelly fish looking for drugs, the gangster's idea of a poisson d’avril joke.

Henry sent this card to his nephew in 1916, it was written in pencil and must have been sent in an envelope. He was looking forward to seeing his nephew the following Sunday, perhaps he had some leave coming up?