It is a rare postcard that makes it to three figures but collectors of embroidered silks took a single card embroidered with the crest of Princess Victoria’s Royal Irish Fusiliers to £165.
Also popular in this section were two Great War silks with the town crests of Sheffield and Tipperary (£110) and a pair of cards embroidered with Art Nouveau portrait busts facing left and right sold at £200.
Postcards remain a collecting area where £10 can still go a long way and – while the bid was three times over estimate – there were 34 cards in a lot of Northumberland views sold at £180. The towns of Bellingham, Craster, Harbottle, Newbiggin, Melkridge, Seahouses, Otterburn and Slaggyford were all featured in this collection that included some collectable social history views of local mills.
As these sales at the Corinium Galleries prove time and again, Louis Wain is the best-loved postcard artist.
Among the Wain comical cat cards were Just a Few Words (£55), Don’t Worry (£55), I Saw it First (£45), A Prisoner of War (£46) and a well-known Solomon Brothers image of three cats playing in the sea titled We Have Some Jolly Larks sold at £75.
However the most eagerly contested Wain lots were three unused Valentine series cards titled Three Little Maids from School, The Three Graces and Mischief Brewing. They provided the top lot of the sale at £2100.
Why postcards wax and Wain
The recent competition seen for rare First World War silks was repeated at the sale conducted by Specialised Postcard Auctions (10% buyer’s premium) of Cirencester on December 6.
