Extracts from Chapter 1 & 3 of 'Our Lives' Book and an auctioneers report
​
Postcards
​
From early collecting to the auctioning off of the largest collection of Lake District Postcards in the world!
Leading up to collecting postcards...
I had a hobby of collecting of Cigarette Cards which were usually issued in sets of 50.
​
Trains, flowers, wildlife, famous people, cricketers etc. etc. formed the basis of the sets. Personally I also used to collect used Cigarette Packets and there must have been over a hundred different brands and types. (Wills, Players, Rothmans, Woodbine, Dunhill, Craven A etc.).
​
Stamps was another hobby that I enjoyed and I soon had a collection of around a thousand, depicting the wonders of the world.
I had also slid into the habit of retaining any postcards that the family received. Looking back I do seem to have been a collector of anything and everything.
Whilst staying with my Aunt Ada I told her that I had started collecting Post Cards, and had amassed several hundred cards at home, being cards passed on from relatives, and cards from friends and neighbours who saved whatever cards they received.
At this time the post, and, when on holiday, the postcard, was the main means of relaying news. We ourselves would send at least a dozen whilst on holiday.
I had cards from all over Britain and many parts of Europe. Aunt Ada came up trumps when she revealed that she herself had several hundred cards and she would give them to me. Many were of World War 1 scenes of devastation, whilst others were old Xmas, Birthday, Congratulatory cards.
However, the most exciting cards were of the Boar War in Africa, with several showing Baden Powell meeting the Matabele Leaders.
Unfortunately most of these were lost years later when I stored cards in the Cellar at Lytham Rd.
On checking them a year or so later I found that they had mildewed, and that they crumbled on touch. However my Post Card Collection was, at the time, much boosted by Aunty Ada's gift.
A Defined Focus for the Postcard Collection
​​Eventually I would visit Post Card Fayres, receive approvals by post, and scour second hand shops in pursuit of new cards.​Postcards depicted are:-
​
1. Navvies accommodation whilst building Seathwaite Reservoir.
2. Newfield Hotel.
3. Ravenglass Railway.
4. Seathwaite Tarn.
​I started to put the cards into albums which held 480 cards per album, and I eventually accumulated 20 odd albums, representing over 10,000 different Lake District Postcards.
​
It recently (on sale) appears to be the largest collection in the world, but only because probably few others collected them or if anyone has... a larger collection has never been publicised.
Just to show that post cards was not an obsession I also started a collection of Lake District Books, but this fortunately stopped when I reached about 40 volumes!!​​​
Auctioneers 1818 Reported on the Collection in 2024
​
"An auction house on the Cumbria and Lancashire border in its third century of auctioneering will soon sell over 9,500 postcards of Cumbria.
The collection is a lifetime of work by its owner and the postcards are organised into specific towns, areas, and manufacturers of postcards.
Specialist Valuer, Andy Bowden, says:
​
“This a fascinating collection, representing a comprehensive visual history of Cumbria.
​
Postcards are more than just images. They serve as snapshots of a bygone era, capturing the essence of a time and place. This extensive collection provides a valuable snippet of social history and life in Cumbria from the early 1900s onwards.
​
Local history enthusiasts, collectors, and researchers are particularly likely to be interested in the Sankey postcards. These are highly sought after by collectors.”
​
Edward Sankey was a well-known local photographer in Barrow-in-Furness for many years, and later in Cumbria and the Northwest.
Postcards were very popular during Edwardian and Georgian times. We believe the first Sankey cards started appearing around 1902.
​
Edward was a keen businessman and in 1923 he gained a patent for his specially designed printing machine.
It allowed the Sankeys to print more postcards with greater speed, as well as produce smaller runs of cards for other publishers.
The Sankeys owned a car. Thanks to their access to the Lake District and surrounding areas they made a ‘Tour of Lakeland’ series, which was novel at the time and popular with tourists and visitors to the region.
​
Simon Thompson, Assistant Manager Auctioneer and Valuer says:
​
“Over the past few years, there has been a major project to catalogue Sankey’s work, which is now stored in the Cumbria Archives.
​
This auction will be popular with both the local community and collectors worldwide. It’s the largest private collection of Cumbrian postcards we have ever seen at 1818 Auctioneers.”
​
The online auction was open for bidding from 8 February at 10am and concluded on Sunday 25 February.
​
We aim to follow up with more postcard stories on this website, including the results of the Auction of the Lake District collection which ended up being reported on the BBC website!