Bill Hopkins Collection - Notting Hillgate

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Sioux
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:57 pm

Bill Hopkins Collection - Notting Hillgate

Post by Sioux »

Can anyone tell me who Bill Hopkins is? I have a lovely card and on the back are 2 ink stamped Logos for Bill Hopkins Collection - Notting Hillgate. Who was Bill? Was he a 'famous' person or Collector?

Many thanks

Sioux

Moonraker
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:23 pm

Re: Bill Hopkins Collection - Notting Hillgate

Post by Moonraker »

Googling " Bill Hopkins Collection - Notting Hillgate" produces a number of hits relating to postcards with this stamped on their backs. Time was when a few dealers rubber-stamped their details on the backs of cards. A bit annoying, not that much importance appears to be attached to the condition of backs of cards, though I've ranted before about dealers' annotations being pencilled so heavily that they can't be easily erased. I can't recall examples of the stamps being applied to cards with messages, but in some cases this would deter my purchasing - often messages can add to the historical value for me.

The most annoying stamp was that of a dealer offering 50% discount off new purchases if one returned the original card.

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eastlondonpostcard
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Re: Bill Hopkins Collection - Notting Hillgatee

Post by eastlondonpostcard »

Sioux wrote:Can anyone tell me who Bill Hopkins is? I have a lovely card and on the back are 2 ink stamped Logos for Bill Hopkins Collection - Notting Hillgate. Who was Bill? Was he a 'famous' person or Collector?

Many thanks

Sioux
He was a London-based collector/dealer of long standing with a vast hoard of postcards buily up over many years. He setup and ran the Postcard Collector's Centre in Kensington, where many of the 'old-time' dealers cut their dealing teeth - sadly many of those early dealers are no longer with us...

Bill Hopkins got it in his head to personalise each and every card he bought/sold with his handstamp - sometimes two or more times - sometimes with his name etc., sometimes with the London Postcard Centre...

He died 18+months ago and now his vast hoard is coming onto the Postcard scene once again in vast numbers, so expect to see a lot more examples!
~ send it on a Postcard please ~

Moonraker
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:23 pm

Re: Bill Hopkins Collection - Notting Hillgate

Post by Moonraker »

Grr :cry:

I don't buy much on eBay but have just spotted a nice "military Wiltshire" card. The mini-image showed there were two oval franks on the reverse and my initial reaction was that these might be military- and highly collectable. No, one was was for "Bill Hopkins Collection", the other for "London Postcard Centre", both at 21 Kensington Park Road. And the message written on the back was interesting. But the franks destroyed any motivation I had to bid.

Almost as bad as using gummed hinges to mount mint stamps (something I did, and now much regret, in the 1960s).

Still, there may be scope for someone to start collecting postcards with dealers' details stamped on them!

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