STAMP SIDELINES

POSTCARDS

Industrial greetings

I’m often asked why postcards were produced of such seemingly unlikely subject matter as ironworks and collieries, writes Richard Stenlake. The answer lies in the fact that these concerns employed hundreds of men, all of whom potentially might send a postcard to show their folks what their place of work looked like.

There is a wide price range in this subject area with some cards selling for as low as ?6 because the view is common while the exceptionally rare can fetch ?60 or more.

When you cross the Atlantic the gulf in prices is more extreme. American works could be massive and this makes the more common printed cards very inexpensive. Textile mills and heavy industry, both here and in America, got bigger and bigger as technology