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Wednesday 26 August 2009

Design Classics First Day Covers

Shown below are 4 x first day covers from Badbury.

Although I think these are a bit on the pricey side at £18.99 each they seem to have been well received as most have sold out. All have a Limited edition of just 100 numbered copies.

The 1st postmarked ,London (Charing Cross) and has a Special Hand stamp shows the Telephone Box and Double Decker bus
.

Number 2: Postmarked Longbridge (Austin Rise ) shows the Mini, again a special Special Hand stamp. This Road is 10 minutes walk away from where I used to live, I also worked at Longbridge for a couple of years building this famous car.



"The Mini came about because of a fuel shortage as a result of the Suez Crisis which reduced oil supplies. Britain saw the re-introduction of petrol rationing and sales of large cars slumped.

In March 1957 Alec Issigonis and his team starts work at Longbridge on the ADO15 (Austin Drawing Office) project. By October the first two prototypes were on the road, with approval to the project being given by the Summer of 1958.

Production versions of the Mini were demonstrated to the press in April 1959, and by August several thousand cars had been produced ready for the first sales. The name Mini did not appear until later. The first models were marketed under two of BMC’s brand names: Austin Se7en and Morris Mini-Minor, being built at Longbridge and Cowley respectively."


Number 3 in the series: Has again a Special Postmark Birmingham (Concorde Tower) situated in the city centre.

NB: The Flowers booklet (not shown ) also has Birmingham postmark (Kew Gardens - Iris) special Hand stamp Limited to 100 numbered copies.

Number 4: The 4th and last in this series Mary Quant and the Mini Skirt again has a West Midlands theme, Solihull Birmingham. This is titled "The Swinging Sixties", postmarked Knightsbridge Rd (my auntie used to live in this road). Again this is a Special Hand stamp with a Limited edition of just 100 numbered copies.


Nice Eh? Here is a link to the Bradbury web site.

1 comment:

Ian - Norvic said...

Recession, what recession? If collectors are paying £19 for a cover bearing a booklet that costs either £2.16 or £2.34.....

As a former cover producer I do realise that there are many other costs involved in producing covers, even if you don't pay to sponsor a special postmark, but I am still surprised that there arre 100 people prepared to pay as much as that.