Item 2020.002.01 - Humber, Lake Shore Road

2020.002.01 - Front 2020.002.01 - Back

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Title proper

Humber, Lake Shore Road

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  • Graphic material

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CA LGIC ARC-2020.002.01

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Statement of scale (cartographic)

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1909 (Creation)
    Creator
    The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd.
    Place
    Great Britain

Physical description area

Physical description

2020.002.01: Postcard

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Front: Colour painting – of Humber, Lake Shore Road, Toronto Canada. From the far left is a large white building with a dark roof with a wooden balcony, beside this is large green trees. In front of the building is a sign facing the opposite way that reads, ‘Garden Party’ strung up on a lamp post and on the buildings balcony. Behind the sign are three vehicles, a black car and the two at the front are buggy’s or wagons. There is another lamp pole directly beside a streetcar rail. There is a brown empty streetcar on the rail. Behind the streetcar is the back of terminal for streetcars. The terminal building is white with a red-brown roof. To the centre-right of the image is a bridge over Mimico Creek. The bridge runs over a dirt road and to the farthest right are two individuals walking along the dirt road with trees to their right. The title “Humber, Lake Shore Road, Toronto, Canada” appears in red in the upper left corner, and an identification code of 104.070 (JV) appears in the lower left corner in black.

Back: Divided back. Some printed text identifies the maker as Valentine & Sons Publishing. Handwritten text in pencil addresses the card to Mrs C. (Mary) Bones with a note from Y & aK (unsure on aK).

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Mark / Inscription text:  
(1) Humber, Lake Shore Road, Toronto, Canada
(2) 104 070 JV
(3) The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd. Montreal and Toronto / Printed in Great Britain
(4) Correspondence
(5) FAMOUS / POST V & SONS CARD / THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
(6) Address Only
(8) Dear Mary / Just a line to you / hoping y’all are / all well we were / real glad to see / Edith & Ernie and / I guess that y’all / will be glad to hear / with Lots of Love from Y & aK[?]
(9) Mrs C. Bones / Chipping Hill Witham Essex / England
Mark / Inscription type:
(1) Picture title
(2) Serial number
(3) Publisher name / makers mark
(4) Instructions for postcard side use
(5) Branding
(6) Instructions for postcard side use
(7) Stamp box
(8) Message
(9) Address of receiver
Mark / Inscription description:
(2) Photo ID code ends with letters JV in circle
(5) Branding logo “V & Sons” superimposed on double-sided globe
(7) Blank rectangle    
Mark / Inscription technique:
(1) Printed, red ink
(2-5) Printed, black ink
(6-7) Printed, black ink
(8-9) Handwritten cursive, pencil      
Mark / Inscription position:
(1) Front of card, upper left
(2) Front of card, lower left
(3) Back of card, vertically along left edge
(4) Back of card, diagonally in upper left
(5) Back of card, horizontally along top edge, centered
(6) Back of card, horizontally in upper right quadrant, between 5 and 8
(7) Back of card, upper right corner
(8) Back of card, horizontally in lower left quadrant, slightly crosses over line into lower right at bottom
(9) Back of card, horizontally in lower right quadrant      
Mark / Inscription language: English      
Mark / Inscription translation: N/A

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This postcard was created and printed by The Valentine & Sons Co., Ltd. Valentine & Sons was a Dundee, Scotland based printing company originally founded in 1825 but did not begin to print postcards until the 1890s. Valentine & Sons first began production of Canadian postcards in 1903 when the company sent a photographer to Montreal. A few years later a Montreal office was formed, followed by offices in Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. In 1909, the Canadian offices became independent were run under the company name of The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd. The first Canadian postcards published by Valentine & Sons were monotone black, collotype postcards featuring photos of scenery along the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, north of Lake Superior, as well as scenes in the Rocky Mountains. The tinted halftone and collotype postcards continued to be printed in Great Britain. The main company closed offices in Canada in 1923 but remained focus on printing postcards. (It is important to note that in 1926, the Canadian company split into two: the Toronto-based Valentine Black and the Winnipeg-based Valentine Edy. The two companies continued to reproduce some of the existing images, but Valentine Edy, in particular, adopted new numbering systems in its later years. The Valentine Edy Co. ceased operations in 1957, followed by Valentine Black in 1964.) However, by the 1950s Valentines & Sons, despite the rise of coloured postcards, were producing greeting cards and as a result, the business was struggling. They were eventually purchased by John Waddington & Co. in 1963 and subsequently sold to Hallmark Cards in 1980. In 1994, the Dundee office officially closed.

Typically, Valentine postcards have a 6-digit serial number (###,###) on the view side with the initials “J.V.” in a circle adjacent to that number. The main series of numbering begins with a Halifax card as no. 100,000 and ends (as far as we know) with a postcard of Toronto as no. 115,981. Other relevant codes are the 400,000s and the 600,000s as there are also two short runs of numbers in the 400,000 range that are found on some cards from the Yukon Territory and a longer run of views from various parts of Canada that begins at 600,000 and continues past 602,000. Other countries and areas received various other codes. Typically, the images numbered from the 100,000s through the 105,000s are the most common.

In relation to this postcard, a rough guide was created by The Toronto Postcard Club using a small sample of Valentine & Sons cards. It is important to note that the dates indicated are those of the earliest postmark in the sample. The number on this card is 104,070 which, based on this rough guide, was likely created around July 1909.

This postcard is printed in the half-tone printing style. Half-tone was the cheaper option than the other popular printing method of collotype images. Collotypes was a gelatine-based printing process used between the late 19th and early 20th century to reproduce photographic images on a printing press. These could be left black and white or colourized by directly adding colour to the image. Half-tone prints were cheaper and easier to produce. They are composed of ranges of little dots to create the image. Half-tone prints often look less realistic and “duller”.

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