South Africa – Global Postcard Sales

Total: 31 postcards

Cape Town, Adderley Street
Card was mailed in the 1990s, and has a stamp, but the postmark is only partly legible. Alas, the card was folded in half horizontally through the middle. Grade: 5

Code: 20451001
Price: $3.00
Tsitsikamma Nat. Park
Card mailed in 2002, with two nice stamps and postmark mostly legible. Address is on an extra sticker. Very minor creasing of upper left front. Grade: 3

Code: 20451002
Price: $5.00
Johannesburg, Hillbrow
This card of the City of Gold was mailed in 1989, has two stamps and a mostly legible postmark. The card shows postal creasing, esp. in upper right front corner, and other corner abrasion. Grade: 3

Code: 20451003
Price: $5.00
Johannesburg, Albert Hertzog Tower
This Toring card was mailed in 1969, has two stamps and a perfect postmark. Apart from one barely visible indentation on front, card is in great condition. Grade: 1

Code: 20451004
Price: $6.00
Durban, whaling industry
This unused real photo card has faded badly. You can’t see detail in this photo but the card itself is somewhat clearer. Grade: 4

Code: 20451005
Price: $6.00
Zulus making fire
An unused Valentine & Sons card, #500,865, from Capetown. Well-aged, unmarked apart from minor corner indentations where it had once been in an album, and with a giant whiff of being patronising. Grade: 2

Code: 20451006
Price: $19.00
Interior of native hut (no chairs)
That’s how the card describes itself. Never mailed, the card has aged normally and is otherwise unmarked and undamaged. Published by Valentine & Sons, 500,866. Grade: 1

Code: 20451007
Price: $21.00
Plucking ostriches
Unused, and apart from normal aging for however old it is, the vintage postcard is in great condition. Published by Valentine & Sons, 500636. Grade: 1

Code: 20451008
Price: $11.00
Bushman hunter
We try to keep our political observations to a minimum about the way such cards (ca. 1975) were captioned. This card is unused, has minor corner bumping, and is aging somewhat on reverse. Let’s call it an artifact of the times. Grade: 3

Code: 20451009
Price: $6.50
Johannesburg, sunset
We wonder whether anyone considers “evolving cities” as a category for collection? Interesting to see how skylines change over time. This unused card from the mid-1970s is captioned in English and Afrikaans, and aging slightly on reverse. Some of the terms on the reverse: D. Briscoe Frameworthy JSPC 11. Grade: 1

Code: 20451010
Price: $5.00
Pretoria, Voortrekker Monument
Unused PSPC 22 card from 1970s, some aging on reverse. Grade: 2

Code: 20451011
Price: $5.00
Natal, Zulus
Unused Artco 272 card of Nagle Dam, Valley of 1000 Hills, from ~1975, some corner creasing and mottling on reverse. Grade: 3

Code: 20451012
Price: $6.00
Johannesburg, Monument to the Miners
Bilingual Frameworthy JSPC 16 card, unused, from mid-1970s. Grade: 1

Code: 20451013
Price: $6.00
Transvaal, winter scene
Nice, artistic unused Frameworthy TSPC 4 postcard from the 1970s. Grade: 1

Code: 20451014
Price: $5.00
Radio RSA QSL
From 1971, a completed QSL from Radio RSA, The Voice of South Africa, typed on a postcard but mailed in an envelope so there’s no stamp. Small tape abrasion on reverse. Grade: 3

Code: 20451015
Price: $8.00
Johannesburg, Hillbrow and city
Mailed in 1975, this card with bilingual caption has two stamps and faintly legible postmark, as well as trilingual blue airmail sticker affixed. Grade: 2

Code: 20451016
Price: $8.00
Western Cape (3D)
Heavy, lenticular-printing 3D card but mailed from the United Arab Emirates (not South Africa!) in 2013 with two stamps and very faint postmark. Grade: 4

Code: 20451017
Price: $5.00
Clifton – Cape Town
Unused Celmor Productions real-photo card B6, possibly from 1957. Grade: 2

Code: 20451018
Price: $7.00
Cape Town, The Chains, Lions Head
Fully intact, a card mailed in 1909 with Cape of Good Hope stamp and mostly legible postmark. Though handled over the years, the card would be a great addition to a collection of early South African postcards. Grade: 2

Code: 20451019
Price: $24.00
Military Decoration (Maximum Card)
Unused Maximum Card from 11 September 1984. Grade: 1

Code: 20451020
Price: $6.00
Port Elizabeth, Samrec
Mailed with stamp but no postmark, orange postal barcoding, and a crease in the upper left corner. Grade: 3

Code: 20451021
Price: $2.00
Informal Settlement
Unused card. Grade: 1

Code: 20451022
Price: $2.00
Port Elizabeth, King’s Beach
In 1972, this card (serrated edges) with the partly blue beach umbrella was mailed to Brazil with two different stamps, airmail label, and postmark. Aging, but still Grade: 2

Code: 20451025
Price: $7.00
Umhlanga Rocks, Natal North Coast
Mailed with two stamps, indistinct Durban postmark, and some orange postal barcoding. A bit of water staining in the message area edge. Grade: 3

Code: 20451027
Price: $2.00
Johannesburg, Jan Smuts Airport
An airport in search of an identity. Opened as Jan Smuts in 1952, then the name changed to Johannesburg International in 1994, then again to O.R. Tambo International in 2006. Unused card. Grade: 1

Code: 20451028
Price: $4.00
Durban, Zulu ricksha ‘pullers’
Unused Artco card No. 14. Grade: 1

Code: 20451030
Price: $3.00
Cape Town, Adderley Street
We wanted to research this a bit to see if we could pin down a date. It’s an unused, real-photo card, from Celmor Productions. It has a reference number 10419/11/57, and from this, the very few people who own or have seen it think that means “1957”. Ordinarily so would we, and we all might be right, but the photo itself looks older. Maybe an old photo on a 1957 card? Anyway, we doubt you can do much better for an earlier view of Cape Town. Grade: 1

Code: 20451032
Price: $19.00
Johannesburg, multiple views
If you could only have one middle-aged postcard from South Africa, this could be it. Mailed in 1974, with two different stamps and clear postmark, the scenes including Oppenheimer Fountain are captioned in English and Afrikaans. Purple airmail chop on the reverse. Grade: 1

Code: 20451033
Price: $5.00
Cape Town – From Table Mountain
Unused real-photo card from (we think; not guaranteed) 1957. What a place for a picnic! Grade: 1

Code: 20451034
Price: $8.00
Johannesburg, View from Harrow Road
Unused older card JSPC 31 showing a view of Mine Dumps from Harrow Road. These dumps have an interesting background story, as many Google entries reveal, including this: “During gold mining, underground tunnels were created to extract ore and crushed rock waste, with gold processing residues being deposited at ground level, which led to the formation of substantial mine dumps and tailing dams in Johannesburg. These underground tunnels, dumps and tailings cover a large footprint.” There’s so much more to be said, including accounts of radioactivity and also that some gold may remain. Grade: 1

Code: 20451035
Price: $6.00
Bantu Studies
The bilingual (English/Afrikaans) caption on this unused Apartheid-era postcard is so condescending that we dare not repeat it here. You’re welcome to buy the card. Grade: 1

Code: 20451036
Price: $3.00

Total: 31 postcards