THE FRANCO-BRITISH EXHIBITION CARDS of 1908 - A LISTING

[Ross Ewington]

Although my favourite series of Tasmanian cards from "the Golden Age" (i.e. pre-WWI) is
the North Mount Lyell Mining Disaster "set", the cards produced by the Tasmanian Government
for distribution to the public from the state pavilion at the Franco-British Exhibition held in London in 1908
are consistently the "top sellers" of all Tasmanian postcards (even though the mining disaster cards and many advertising
cards by F.W. Niven are often far more difficult to find).

I would like to use this topic to create an illustrated listing of all the cards known. There were two printings of the series;
a) picture title in brown and b) picture title in bluish-grey.

[attachment=1]fb woolbuyers.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]fb hop picking.jpg[/attachment]
If you have any images of these cards please post them here ... in case the colours do not "scan well", please state whether
your card is from printing a or b (see above for characteristics).

[Ross Ewington]

LOADING POTATOES AT DEVONPORT

Type a
AN APPLE TROPHY

Type a
ORCHARDS IN THE GLENORCHY VALLEY

Type a
MAGNET SILVER MINE, NEAR WARATAH

Type b

[Mike]

I recently came across the following publication through a collecter friend of mind residing in Brisbane.

The book "Postcards of the Great White City Exhibitions 1908 - 1914" by Bill Tonkin, published in 2008 by the Exhibition Study Group. See http://www.studygroup.org.uk

This is a weighty book listing hundreds of postcards and is a absolute "must" if you collect these postcards.
The bit that caught my eye was Tonkin's listing of the Tasmanian Franco British Exhibition cards. I have listed 23 cards in my publication "The Semi - Official Postcards of Tasmania 1908 to 1969." I have always thought that there should be 24 cards in the set. 23 cards seemed a bit odd, but a few years on the look out for another card has produced no results, until now, well sort off !

Tonkin's listing has 25 cards !! and Ingles listing in Tinsley's book "Tasmania Stamps and Postal History" lists 22 cards.It is of interest that Ingles thinks that there is also 24 cards in the set.

The 2 extra cards that Tonkin lists are

A Prize Merino Ram "President"

and he lists the following as 2 separate cards

Mount Lyell Railway

Mount Lyell Company's Wharves

I have listed (see scan) The Prize Merino Ram "President"

Is "A Prize Merino Ram "President", a new find ??? Can anyone confirm this card?

With regards to the Mount Lyell cards, I think Tonkin has it wrong ! This is only 1 card. Ingles has it listed as one card and I also have it listed as one card
ie "Mount Lyell Railway: Mt Lyell Company's Wharves."

I do not have a copy of this card myself but I am sure that I have seen a copy (can't remember where though)

Can someone confirm that it is indeed 1 card ??

So to sum up

If "A Prize Merino Ram "President" is found and it is confirmed that Mount Lyell Railway: Mt Lyell Company's Wharves is one card, well we have a set of 24 cards !!!

[Hobbit123]

I have an example of the Prize Merino Ram from the first printing. Again, it would take a while to find, except that it is in the front of one of my albums along with my other FBE cards.

My (modest) holding is:

An Apple Trophy
A Tasmanian Timber Mill
British & Foreign Woolbuyers inspecting Wool
Carting Blackwood Logs to Scottsdale
Hauling Timber through Forest
Hop-Picking at New Norfolk
Hydraulic Tin Sluicing
Magnet Silver Mine, near Waratah
Mount Lyell Smelters, Queenstown
Packing Stores for the Mines
Tasmania Gold Mine, Beaconsfield
The Prize Merino Ram, President

[Mike]

Hello Patrick

Thanks for your post.

Could you confirm that you have either or both, A Prize Merino Ram "President" and The Prize Merino Ram "President "

Would you consider that A Prize Merino Ram "President" is from a first printing ? I was not aware that there was 2 printings or do you mean from the 2 different printing shades? (which perhaps is from 2 printings !!)

Cheers
Mike.

[Malcolm Groom]

Discovered in a recent London auction.

Packing Rabbits for England

From Printing (a).

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I would be interested if other used examples have been seen?

[Ross Ewington]

Whilst in the process of looking for "something else" I came across this
interesting 'snippet' re the Franco-British cards published in The Mercury on April 15th, 1908.

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[Mike]

Ross

A very interesting article. 21 specimens !!. Well I know there are at least 23 "specimens" known. Yes, you would I thought that a better quality card would of been printed for such an important event for Tasmania on the world stage. Perhaps the Govenment Printing office was only given a very short time for preparation before shipment to the UK. I will do further search of the Mercury to see if anything else appears.

The exhibition opened on the 14th May 1908. The newspaper date of 15th April 1908 is only 29 days before the opening. Perhaps the specimen cards arrived at the Mercury a week or 2 after shipment to the UK, so it is possible that it was a "rush" printing job. How long would a ship take to get to the UK from Hobart in 1908? Perhaps 4 to 6 weeks in kind weather ?

[Mike]

I can now confirm that there are 2 versions of the "President" postcard, Have sighted, A Prize Merino Ram, "President".
So the sum up -

1. A Prize Merino Ram "President"

2. The Prize Merino Ram "President"

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[Hobbit123]

As part of my recent attempts to tidy up my collection (much of which involves sorting by publisher), I have found my FBE cards and put them in a single album. By printing, I hold:

Printing (a) Brown:
Mount Lyell Smelters, Queenstown
Tasmania Gold Mine, Beaconsfield
Hydraulic Tin Sluicing
THE Prize Merino Ram, President
An Apple Trophy
Carting Blackwood Logs to Scottsdale
Packing Rabbits for England

Printing (b) Blue-grey:
Hop-picking at New Norfolk
Orchards in the Glenorchy Valley
Hauling Timber through Forest
A Tasmanian Timber Mill
Magnet Silver Mine, near Waratah
Packing Stores for the Mines

If you would like any scans, please ask, as I now know where they are!

[Mike]

An important new find ? To my knowledge this is the first recording of a Tasmanian Franco Exhibition postcard with the Exhibition Postmark. Can anyone record another copy?

The card was posted 7th July 1908 from the Exhibition in London to Leeds. The picture on the front is "British and Foreign Woolbuyers Inspecting Wool".

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[Ross Ewington]

Thanks for posting this outstanding discovery Mike ...especially with the exhibition cancel!

[Pity the sender used a water soluble ink ]

[Mike]

A recent find. Postally used at Ulverstone again (see Malcolm Groom post 21/5/12) Posted 10/8/08 to England. The writer R.Nichols mentions,
"This is one of the series published for the Franco-British Exhibition. I am sending you two other postcards under separate cover"

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[Mike]

Just noticed this Franco British Exhibition card on an internet auction site. Unfortunately the stamp have been removed but the posting date was June 29th 1908. Again posted from Ulverstone by a Jean Douglas and again the view of the Tasmanian Gold Mine at Beaconsfield!

Just noticed that Malcolm Groom's post on 21st May 2010 was also posted by a "Douglas" on the same date, June 29th 1908 from Ulverstone. Must be the same family?

[Mike]

The following Tasmanian British Franco British Exhibition postcard sold recently on an online auction site.
Unfortunately some vandal has removed the postage stamp but postally used cards are always of interest. The postmark is Paddington 12.15 am July 28th ?? (perhaps Year 08).

At first I thought this was Paddington (London) England as the card is addressed to "Australia". Then I thought perhaps the card was posted from Paddington (Sydney).

Could someone identify this postmark as English or Australian?

In any case if this card was posted in England, it is the first postally used card I have seen posted to Australia OR
if it was posted from Paddington (Sydney) it is the first postally used card I have seen posted from one state to another state.

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[Ross Ewington]

It's a G.B. machine cancel ..... I can't work out the year but it's appears to be a 'posthumous' usage.... 1920s? 1930s?

[Mike]

Another Tasmanian British Franco card from the Douglas family of Ulverstone. Posted on the 29/June 1908 to GB. Front is "Hop Picking near New Norfolk"
This card was offered recently by Phoenix Auctions, Melbourne, Auction 59, lot No 1062, 15/12/2017. It appears that this card was also offered by Prestige / Mossgreen as part of lot 1250, Auction 219, 28th Feb 2017.

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[Mike]

The above postcard has turned up again, this time on a well known online auction site. It sold for $96.69 on 29/7/18.

[Linsay]

I have just been doing some research on FBE cards and believe I can add some new variants to this list (not by title though).

I have a pair of cards titled PACKING APPLES FOR ENGLAND from the second print (blue title), with one of the pictures being in the typical brown/black tone while the other is in the same blue tone as the title!

This is not a sun fading issue, as the titles on both cards are exactly the same blue tone.

But wait folks, there's more!

I have a similar pair like this for the card titled SHIPPING APPLES FOR ENGLAND.

This blue tone printing also exists for ENGLISH TROUT and A TASMANIAN TIMBER MILL (I do not have the standard darker picture tone for comparison on these two).

I would suggest that these are a separate printing run from the second print (blue) and they may actually be a third print run??

I have just joined the site and will post some images once I get up and running

These variations come from a group of 48 cards I acquired that have 19 different images, so very little duplication and not far off the full set anyway. None are postally used but who cares!

[Linsay]

After rereading the thread, I believe that the extract from the Mecury dated 1908 posted by Ross would refer to the two different colour prints I have and not the separate colour of the titles that we also see.

The images I see posted on this thread would seem to look like the brown image print, regardless of the different colour prints of the titles themselves (I hope that makes sense).

[Mike]

This item appeared on a well known online auction site today. A rather late postal usage of a Franco British Expo postcard, posted from Somerset 15th March 1920 to Holland.

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[Mike]

An extraordinary genuine postal use of a Tasmanian Franco British Exhibition postcard from the Western Australian remote town of Broad Arrow to Nannine. Broad Arrow is located 38kms north of Kalgoorlie and today is a ghost town. The card is addressed to Nannine which also is a ghost town. Nannine is located 35 kms south west of Meekatharra. The Broad Arrow postmark is poor but is just readable and is dated 18/03/09. Also see the top of the writing as it has the initials B.A. How did a special postcard like this end up in remote town of Broad Arrow? This is the first time I have seen a Tasmanian Franco British card postally used in Western Australia. All postally used cards from this set are rare compared with unused cards.
The postcard view is "Hop Picking at New Norfolk".

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[Mike]

Just recently I notice on an internet auction site four postally used Tasmanian Franco British Exhibition postcards in mixed lots. Unfortunately each card had the stamp removed, but it was possible to date each card with partial postmarks and some of the cards were hand dated. Each card was addressed to Mauritius and to the same person.

Preparing Poultry for Export. Arrival CDS 14/7/11
Electric Light and Power Station Launceston. Part Hobart machine cancel, hand dated 5/8/11.
Packing Stores to the Mines. Hobart Machine cancel, 1/6/11
Hauling Timber through Forest. Hobart Machine Cancel 1/6/11.

[Mike]

Yes, I know this card has been vandalised, but it is another rare postally used Tasmanian Franco Exhibition card. It was posted at Hobart on the 14th August 1908 to the USA with the correct franking of 1 1/2d.
Also interestingly, pasted on is the Newspaper clipping, "Gossip, The United Sates Consul leaves this Saturday for Melbourne and Sydney to help welcome the American Fleet".
The view on the front is "Electric Light and Power Station Launceston".

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