Old Coventry postcards

That's a good one Anne.

The postcard is dated Aug 29/1905

Never fails to surprise me what they used to put on Coventry postcards. Still I'm grateful. If it wasn't for this sort of thing there wouldn't be as many images luring me in. One postcard I'd like to see better is one I've got in a book about Coventry's industrial past. It's an aerial shot of the factory on Gosford Street, with the edges faded out. The book quality is a bit dotty and I'd love to see an original or even better the un-cropped photo.

Hi all. Do any Forumites know anything about old postcards? I've come across a collection of about 35 post cards of Coventry that have been hidden in an old desk for years. I would say they date from the early years of the 20th century judging from the fashions. Most have been posted and have a brief message to a recipient in Solihull. They're black and white (one's in colour). I wouldn't think they have any monetary value but maybe a member can advise me differently. I'm thinking they could look attractive mounted and framed. Do people collect old postcards?

Yes! Mostly acquired via eBay or delcampe

Same as MR above, eBay mostly, with a small handful from Delcampe - both are a great resource for buying & selling postcards to people like us with an interest in their city. On eBay you can search to see postcards for sale, and then you can click the "Sold listings" on the left so you can see what sort of prices they have fetched over the last few weeks, which can be handy if you're thinking of flogging a few! You could always put some images on here if you like - there might be some that we haven't already got. To see most of my collection so far, try the blue "Rob's pics" button on the left above, of which about two-thirds of the 700+ images are scans of postcards.

Historically priceless some of them. What were just casual images at the time can be like finding gold now.

It was about 1872 that postcards were introduced. When they were first introduced, everyone foretold failure. Our ancestors did not fancy the idea of outsiders being able to read one's private correspondence even though it be only about the weather. They shuddered at the thought that some curious servant or postman might read the postcard. Thousands of people, in spite of warnings, stuck the postcard in an envelope, sealed it down and sent it for a halfpenny! The receiver, of course had to pay a penny! This brought in a nice sum to the treasury. Envelopes were a Sussex invention - before then people simply folded their notepaper and sealed it with wafers of sealing wax. But at that time very tiny notepaper became all the rage, so when it was folded and sealed there was little room for the address! So a guy called Brewer made little covers for the notepaper, the idea caught on and bingo, you had envelopes. During the war, all mail from servicemen was censored, so guys started writing on the envelope in capital letters - the most popular one was SWALK (sealed with a loving kiss). This caught on and soon envelopes were covered in artistic and hidden messages, some very rude, some very humorous.

I picked up an old postcard from the Barras in Glasgow postmarked Coventry April 14 1909. The front has "Greetings from Coventry" on it and it was sent to a recipient in Dundee. Not unusual for the time but all the message on the reverse is written backwards, so the only way to read it is against a mirror. This presumably was to stop the postie from reading it!

I bought some old postcards of Coventry yesterday from an antique fair in Wells. One of them is of Far Gosford Street and seems to be a Godiva procession. The background shows a building front with Charles Garlick, builder on it. The condition of the card is so bad, faded, that details are hard to make out. Can anyone suggest a method of enhancing the image please.

One for NeilsYard - a distant view of the Market Clock Tower Post copied from topic Coventry's Markets on 22nd Feb 2018 9:18 am

Midland Red, brilliant photograph so clear, unfortunately no date again, but from the carts I would think early twenties.