REAL PHOTO "ROSS" SERIES CARDS WITH KING ISLAND VIEWS

[Ross Ewington]

As reported by Mike in another postcard topic, there are some huge prices being paid on eBay by collectors of real photo cards by "Ross" with King Island views.

Going by the card numbers, there appears to be quite a few of them produced and I thought it would be a good idea to see if we can assemble a listing on the TPS BB.

I have "helped myself" to images of five different cards which I have inserted below. If any members have examples of other cards from the series,
can they post them here please? ***

There's a few questions that should be answered too such as 1) who was Ross, 2) roughly when were the cards produced and 3) who printed them for Ross .... they look a little like
Rose or Murray Views publications ... could either of those companies produced the cards for Ross ????

[***A listing of cards in this series is being added at the bottom of this first post]

ross no.6.jpg (56.18 KiB) Viewed 4475 times

ross no.7.jpg (41.68 KiB) Viewed 4475 times

Could this be a "9"?

ross no.8.jpg (30.19 KiB) Viewed 4475 times

ross no.11.jpg (53.99 KiB) Viewed 4475 times

ross no.14.jpg (38.24 KiB) Viewed 4475 times

LIST OF CARDS FROM THE "ROSS SERIES" [commenced 8/2010]

No.1 - "Main Street, Currie, King Island"
No.2 - "Currie Harbour and Lighthouse, King Island" (recorded by Mike)

No.4 - "Town Hall Currie King Island" (recorded by Mike)

No.6 - "Our 'arbour, Currie, King Island
No.7 - "Currie Harbour From North West, King Island"

No.9 - "Grassy Beach, King Island"

No.11 - "Main Street, Currie, King Island"

No.13 -- "Naracoopa Jetty, King Island"
No.14 - "Naracoopa, King Island"
No.15 - "Panorama of Township, Currie, King Island"

[Mike]

The 1936-1937 Tasmanian Post Office Directory lists Ross & Co and Leslie Ross as Fruiterers - Retail. I guess the Ross family had some sort of grocery shop. Perhaps selling their own postcards? More research needed.

Have not seen a postally used Ross card, My guess these card from c1948-50

[Mike]

Can add 2 more cards to the Ross Series,

Ross Series No2 Currie Harbour and Lighthouse King Island.
Ross Series No4 Town Hall Currie King Island.

[Ross Ewington]

>>>
>>>
A listing of this series of cards has been commenced at the bottom of the first post above....
>>>
>>>

[Hobbit123]

I have just had a look at my listing of these. I think my holding adds Nos. 13 & 15 to the list. It is:

4 Town Hall, Currie, King Island M
6 Our 'arbour, Currie, King Island U
7 Currie Harbour from North West, King Island M
11 Main Street, Currie, King Island M
13 Narrcoopa Jetty, King Island M
15 Panorama of Township, Currie, King Island M

Note that M is mint and U is used.

[Ross Ewington]

thanks Patrick ... I have amended the listing above.
Do you have the year your copy of the "Our 'arbour" card was used in?

[Mike]

Have sighted 2 more cards from the ROSS Series which can be added to the listing.

No1 Main Street, Currie King Island.

No3 Post Office & King Island Hotel. Currie King Island.

[Mike]

Another Ross card for the list,

Ross No10 Grassy River, King Island. Just sold on eBay for $129.36 !!!!

[Mike]

Have sighted another Ross Card, No 12 - Wickham Lighthouse King Island. Still need Nos 5, 8 and perhaps 16 to complete the set.

[Ross Ewington]

I have located Ross card #1 - "Main Street, Currie, King Island"

ws107.jpg (49.06 KiB) Viewed 4100 times

[Des_Beechey]

I wrote to the KIng Island Historical Society to seek information about the Ross Series cards. I received a very informative letter from Sue Fisher, their Resaerch Officer.

Dear Des Beechey

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you but I have only just received your letter from our president.

The postcards are around 1936-1946. We hold part of the collection in our museum.

Les Ross was an important figure in the community of King Island. His father and mother came to King Island in 1910 as settlers resiing near Grassy.

Les Ross was a Councillor twice and served on the Marine Board during the 1940s.

He was Warden of the island in 1955 and was also Captain of the Marine Board, the only person to hold both positions together.

He owned a gneral store in the main steet of Currie selling nearly everything.

He died 3 May 1956, one monthe after finishing as Councillor. He left a sum of 250 pounds to preserve and improve the Currie foreshore. He left 500 pounds to the hospital.

There is a Les Ross park named after him, and an avenue also called after him.

Regards
Sue Fisher, Research Officer

As was suggested, he was the shop keeper at Currie, and the concentration on marine topics in the cards is explained by his Marine Board involvement. The title of one of his card Our 'arbour shows a degree of proprietary and perhaps pride in the marine facilities of the island.

I have asked Sue Fisher to send me photocopies of the cards they have in their museum, to try and get a complete listing of the set.

Des Beechey

[Ross Ewington]

many thanks for your efforts Des .... hopefully, you will receive more information to post in the
very near future.

[Des_Beechey]

I received a reply from the King Island Historical Society about Ross Series cards. They were not able to supply details of either of the cards that have not been seen so far (ie, no. 5 and 8 ), but sent images of several that have not been posted here before. The list now stands at:
No. 1 - "Main Street, Currie, King Island"
No. 2 - "Currie Harbour and Lighthouse, King Island"
No. 3 - Post Office & King Island Hotel. Currie King Island.
No. 4 - "Town Hall Currie King Island"
No. 5
No. 6 - "Our 'arbour, Currie, King Island”
No. 7 - "Currie Harbour From North West, King Island"
No. 8
No. 9 - "Grassy Beach, King Island"
No. 10 - “Grassy River, King Island”
No. 11 - "Main Street, Currie, King Island"
No. 12 - Wickham Lighthouse King Island.
No. 13 - "Naracoopa Jetty, King Island"
No. 14 - "Naracoopa, King Island"
No. 15 - "Panorama of Township, Currie, King Island"

Ross3.jpg (95.38 KiB) Viewed 3844 times

[Ross Ewington]

Thanks Des ... good work.

The two cards that you posted do not appear to belong to the real photo series discussed in this topic (probably produced for Ross by Rose Stereograph in Melbourne).
The two images sent to you from K.I. (now posted above) appear to be printed rather than photographic and are more like the C.A Pitt & Co. series from which Patrick posted a couple of cards
a week or two ago.

Do you know if these printed cards are from another series by Ross?

[Ross Ewington]

Here's an image of card No.15 - there is a written greeting on the back reading in part, 'Wishing you all the best for 1947'.
Therefore, this card series must date back to 1946 at least.

_________________________________________ to view the whole card, please click once on the image __________________________________

ws115.jpg (236.65 KiB) Viewed 3742 times

[Ross Ewington]

Here is an image of the second card from the series reported by Mike.

sd107.jpg (212.69 KiB) Viewed 3571 times