Anthony CarrollThey are synonymous with 'wish you were here' messages from people taking a traditional Great British holiday. But postcards are also increasingly viewed as an important historical resource as they depict scenes from a bygone age.www.greatyarmouthauctions.comAnthony Carroll
They are synonymous with 'wish you were here' messages from people taking a traditional Great British holiday. But postcards are also increasingly viewed as an important historical resource as they depict scenes from a bygone age.
And now a collection of 3,000 postcards from the early 20th century has thrown fresh light on one of the top holiday destinations at the time - Yarmouth.
With scenes of packed beaches and piers and holidaymakers taking a gentle stroll along a more genteel seafront, the postcards show how people flocked to the resort during and after the Edwardian times.
The postcards are sure to be of interest to collectors when they are put up for auction at Garry M Emms auctioneers in Beevor Road tomorrow.
As well as showing the seaside delights of Yarmouth, Gorleston and Caister, the postcards also feature the destruction caused by a Zeppelin raid in 1915 and a visit to the town by Edwardian royalty after the first world war.
The town's long-vanished herring industry also features.
The collection, which is being sold on behalf of a north Norfolk archivist, also features rare postcards of picturesque Broadland villages and the 1912 Norwich floods.
Garry Emms, the auctioneer's managing director, said: 'We have had several lots of postcards in the past but never of this magnitude before.'
The postcards will be sold as seven separate lots of albums. Mr Emms said the most valuable post card was worth �50.
The auction will also feature separate lots of EDP photographs of the Yarmouth area from the 1950s by Len and Ivan Gould and photographs of top comics and singers Tommy Cooper, Billy Fury, Dick Emery and Frankie Howard as they performed in the town. The whole collection could fetch up to �5,000.
The auction takes place tomorrow from 10am with viewings held from 9am and from noon to 6pm today.
For details or to make a bid, call 01493 332668 or visit www.greatyarmouthauctions.com
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