Firestyle Magazine Issue 7 - Spring 2017 | Page 17

interest and greater value.
Collectors often theme their
interests so for example
postcards featuring aircraft,
motorcars, fire-engines,
trams, tradesmen, workmen
and children are especially
sought after and often can
be worth between £10 and
£50 depending on the subject
and the rarity.
Cards created by artists can
be much more valuable
depending on the reputation
of the person who painted
or drew the original picture.
Cards created by famous
Art Nouveau artists such
as Raphael Kirchner and
Alphonse Mucha, both of
whom specialised in drawing
beautiful, unattainable
women, can fetch £500 or
more each.
The comic and often rather
saucy seaside postcard is
probably the best known of
all, created by artists such as
Donald McGill, whose cards
were often so risqué and
loaded with innuendo that
they were sometimes banned
from sale, and once he was
even taken to court and
fined! Most comic postcards
fetch just a pound or two, but
rarer examples by McGill can
fetch £20 or more.
Another postcard often
seen around the antique
fairs, shops and auctions are
silk postcards, often looking
as if they have been hand
embroidered in beautiful
coloured silks. In fact they
were mass produced on
machines and were popular
in the First World War as
send-home gifts to wives and
sweethearts. Typically they
fetch £5-£10 each.
However, examples which
feature year dates, normally
between 1914 and 1919, fetch
between £15 and £20 each,
while cards which feature
specific items in the design
regimental badges, aircraft or
Zeppelins, tanks or machine
guns are more likely to be in
the £25 to £50 price bracket,
and often much more.
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