Tower Bridge Postcard - 1938 And Early Use Of The Great Britain 1-D Stamp Value For Postcards

I joined a few months ago the New York City based Metropolitan Postcard Club. They have several shows where vendors and members sell their postcards - some unused, used, and souveniur cards as well as a smattering of FDCs.

I am sharing this one as I found the following interesting:

1) The photo of Tower Bridge is excellent

2) An early use of the 1 d value to send a postcard from Great Britain to the US. This rate was established in 1937 and this card was sent 1938

3) The stamp is a dual use postage-revenue stamp and a rather attractive one from the reign of George the VI, probably issued in the mid to late 30's. In used condition this stamp can have a little bit more value than some other common issuances of this period.

4) Notice the stamp of the Empire International Exhibition held in Glasgow (https://libcat.csglasgow.org/web/ar...20education)
over the stamp yet it was cancelled in London and then in Thompson, NY.

Let's address first the Glasgow stamp, with a little sleuthing I discovered this is a special event postmark. This one was used countrywide from April 25th to October 28th, 1938 and had the local postmark from which the mail item was sent and the Empore Exhibit Glasgow stamp. So this was one of the more common special event postal stamps at this time. This was not always the case as for smaller events it may have been available only at the location of the event and even then not always provided on mail. Generally pre-WW2 special event stamps have more value than post WW-2 when the post office made these available easily and in plentiful quantities to collectors. This article provides information on special event postal stamps of Great britain https://www.gbps.org.uk/information...plements.pdf

As for the postmark to Thompson , NY - It may have been sent to an old address and then forwarded to Ocean Grove , NJ but as the corrected address has handwriting quite similar to the sender of the card, it could have been directed to the old address by mistake before heading to New Jersey. So the cancels, stamps and address propose this card had a bit of a detour to arrive at its destination.

5) Interesting for the time - in a year and a half Britain would enter WW2 and the London bombings start.

6) Also interesting is in the message the author raves about Paris -- again as with the postcard picture the sense of normalcy both evince how France and Europe tried to maintain such a facade as the prospect of war grew greater every day. It seemed to fool this American who writes "Hated to leave France" well damn well he did as in 13 months Germany would invade Paris and France!

7) Finally, it was a great bargain - only 25 cents. The seller was primarily into postcards and really didn't know much about stamps. So he valued it by how common the postcard was for its time, the landmark featured being quite common for postcards, and the condition which was just average - not bad but the heavy crease in the corner and a small tear at the bottom would definitely encourage a postcard collector to search for a better example - used or unused.

I did get a few other items, one of my favorites being a view book from about the early 40's or earlier of Montreal, Canada that has wonderful depictions of the city's main sites and in very good condition. A nice momento and one that has special meaning for me as my Mom was born in Montreal in 1934.

Anyway, check the Metropolitan Postcard Card for its shows - they are held at a church in the West Village and the next one will be a 2-day show in October.
I went to the prior two-day show a few months ago and you get greater choice as more vendors come - I snatched some nice postcards from British Mandate of Palestine and Israel at its founding.

London Bridge as in a London Bridge? Because that is not London Bridge but Tower Bridge, as it says on the postcard.

Almost all postage stamps issued from 1881 until about 1970 were valid for revenue duties.

George VI acceded to the throne on 10 December 1936 and the stamp was issued 10 May 1937, two days before his coronation. It is extremely common and has almost minimal value.

The cancellation is a London slogan cancellation advertising the running 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow. It will have been posted in London.

The UK and France entered into war with Germany 3 September 1939, the bombing of London did not become structural until a year later.

When McCulloch bought London Bridge for transport to the US, there was a rumour, sadly thought to be untrue, that he believed he was buying the much more decorative Tower Bridge.

NSK - made the correction (damn nursery rhyme I blame!). Yes the cancelled stamp is minimal value but I found it is not so common as not to have some interest. Thanks too for the synopsis of what I just presented. Check out the article on slogan/special event cancellations.

To me it remains a bargain - it serves as an excellent example of use of postage-revenue stamps which seems novel to those still not as seasoned as you NSK and the slogan cancel and how blithe the author seems about the risk of war rising in the places he visited is striking (one of the reasons for the exhibition happening in Glasgow was war preparations re-energized muc of Britain's industrial sector and this exhbition served to show this).

I hardly won the lottery with this one, but I learned much more about philately and the tenor of the times than a quarter would give.

It is an interesting cancellation and at 25 cents not a bad buy at all.

A special event postmark for the Glasgow Empire Exhibition would be a postmark used at the venue, not a general slogan postmark advertising it applied in London.




The idea for an exhibition in Glasgow arose before 1936.

The MOC used to have a highly informative website, with lots of great stuff about manufacturers etc - they seem to be constructing another at present.

Yes the idea of the exhibition was being considered before 1936. But the exhibition ended up serving to show Britain's industrial base was blossoming with the demands of war preparation since at the time of the exhibition war preparations were ramping up in the face of Hitler's threats. The original intent of the exhibition was to support a revival of Glasgow's industrial base according to the article I provided, but with the changing times the purpose evolved to being more a showcase of how robust industrial production had become in a short span of years.

NSK thanks for the clarification, it seems the author of the article has slogan cancels as a sub-category of special event cancels - at least for this event as the dies were used at the event's location for its duration as well as on mail countrywide. See page 55 of the article.

Pardon the earlier typos.

The paddle steamer's the London Belle:

https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=15046

Built and launched 1893 Dumbarton Scotland, requisitioned as a minesweeper 1916, returned to owners 1919, broken up 1929.

Tide's in.

All the traffic waiting to cross the bridge appears to be horse-drawn, including a bus, so probably a pre-Great War photo.

I was wondering how far before WWII the picture would have been taken. I could not identify a copyright, publishing date or printing date.

The number at the lower left on the front could imply the Jubilee Year (1887) but would not be possible if it is the London Belle.

Think the number 43871.J.V. is a catalogue or reference number- J V probably means James Valentine, the firm's founder. The bridge first opened in 1894.

Some observations sent me on the point the quasi-world's fair was planned well before the clouds of war had crossed into view (pre-1936 as noted by NSK):

The timeline for the invasion of France is incorrect as well.

Maybe we should focus on the picture of a famous London Landmark, an interesting slogan cancellation, and the lowered 1d postcard rate for the USA, as the 1d postcard rate had been in force for quite some time for Empire countries, but had been raised to 1½d for UPU countries a few years earlier. Also, the redirection adds interest.

Spot the second famous London landmark! Not the churches…