REAL PHOTO CARDS by UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, WYNYARD

[Ross Ewington]

I recently purchased this card with a view of part of the estuary of the Inglis River at Wynyard
with an imprint indicating that the photographer/publisher was "The Universal Studios, Wynyard, Tas".
The Kodak Austral stamp box on the reverse indicates that the card was mostly likely to have been printed
in the 1920s however the view and the style of the imprint suggest that the firm may have been producing
copies of this view for some time.

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Until I received and made an image of this card I thought it was a sepia print ... as you can see above, it
turned out to be very subtly colour tinted!

Although information may be 'buried' in Chris Long's "Tasmanian Photographers 1840-1940" the book unfortunately
doesn't have an index and usually lists the names of photographers rather than their companies or employers.

Does anyone know anything about The Universal Studios at Wynyard ...... who, what, when, etc. ??

Does anyone have anymore examples of different views by this firm that they can post here?

[Mike]

Hello Ross

Not sure if I can answer your question at the moment. I had a look through my Wynyard cards and found only 2 cards with the Universal Studio imprint.

Card 1. Colour hand tinted RP view of Wynyard and the river. Card is unused, but judging from the back of the card, I would say c1935.
Card2. B/W RP of Football team (which I cannot identify) Has dated on back 1932 (I think)

Other Wynyard Photographers

A. Gregory (not list by Long) c1915
A.E.Gee c1910 to 1915
A Bock. Stepson of Thomas Back the artist. Lived at Oldina, listed as photographer Wynyard c1900 to 1914. Died 1920.
Miss Sargent c1912 to 1920
William Touzeau. I have not seen any photographs with his name on. Wise's Tasmanian PO Directory lists him in my 1928 and 1936 directories.
But I could not fine any referance to the Universal Studio.

At the moment Touzeau is my bet as the dates fit in to my 2 cards. I think the other photographers are to early.

I will keep checking. I hope to have the scanner working this weekend!

[Ross Ewington]

I recently came across this real photo card by (A.) Bock with a view of "Wynyard" - postally used from Yolla in 1908

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[Ross Ewington]

Just described this Universal Studios card with a view of Fossil Bluff and Table Cape for my next auction

Cards by Universal Studios are certainly few and far between!!

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