postcard.co.uk

Hi All

It has been 3 years since I last visited the Uk and searched for Australian cards at fairs.

Even in 2006 the prevailing view among people that I spoke to seemed to be 'don't bother going beyond London' as most of the good material ends up in the hands of London based dealers ...

I have always enjoyed travelling around the Uk in search of cards - you develop a sense of the geography of the place (and begin to appreciate the rather short distances between centres !) I first went to the UK in search of Australian material in 1989.

What are the thoughts of members on this site ? Are foreign cards hard to get outside of London these days ??

PS If anyone has any spare Australian real photo cards - tints, sepia or BW for 1900-1960 (especially for Sydney area) please let me know ! Street scenes, beaches, transport - the usual stuff that many people collect.

I have found it worthwhile travelling some distance to large fairs away from London but in fact many of the dealers at them were from the Greater London area (by which I mean within fifty miles from the centre of the Capital).

I think you find the best cards at the bigger fairs, whwerever these may be.
York is one of my favourites, though BIPEX - picture postcard show is probably the best.

Are there any London based dealers these days? south east maybe?

Was at the Canterbury Postcard Fair on Saturday (13th). This fair is not listed on the main list of fairs, so for those interested, the dates for the remainder of the year, courtesy of Clive Baker, are:-

17th April
12th June
28th August (the main event)
9th October
11th December

I must admit that there seemed to be fewer postcard dealers, and more dealers in other antiquities at the weekend than I recall being there before, but there again, I hadn't been since August last year. There WERE a number of foreign cards (that is, scenes of foreign places), and prices seemed to be a little lower than six months ago. Maybe dealers had found they were struggling to sell at the higher prices.

Anyhow, thanks Clive, for me it was a successful and worthwhile trip.