Antique & Vintage Postcards

Betty was spending a fortnight on the Isle of Wight and found the weather "lovely" — so she pulled a fold-out novelty postcard from a rack at W. J. Nigh & Sons' shop at 50 High Street, Ventnor, and sent it winging across the Atlantic to Ralph, an airman stationed at Condon Air Force Base in Oregon. The colorful cover shows five classic Isle of Wight views — Sandown's sweeping bay and pier, the cliff-hugging village of Ventnor, the dramatic chine ravine of Blackgang, the seaside promenade at Ryde, and thatched Old Village Shanklin — while the accordion interior unfurls to add Whitecliff Bay at Bembridge, the timeless Godshill Old Cottages & Church, Yarmouth Harbour bristling with sailboats, Newport Church, and more. The Queen Elizabeth II 1½d green stamp is cleanly cancelled with an Isle of Wight machine cancel dated 1958, making this a transatlantic military correspondence piece of quiet Cold War charm. Betty signs off: "America now, and thinking always of you."