A rare collection of risqué postcards was put up for auction this month, for the sum of £36,000.  The work of the late cartoonist Donald McGill (often dubbed the king of the saucy postcard), the postcards were popular for their suggestive, saucy humour, and sold in their millions.  The son of a stationer, McGill’s first postcard appeared in 1904, and he created over 12,000 designs until his death in 1962.

Sixty original watercolours were put up for auction at Campbells Auctioneers in Worthing, West Sussex, with a guide price for each of £600 – making the entire collection worth £36,000.

McGill’s postcards were not always to everyone’s tastes, however, and he faced prosecution several times for breaking the Obscene Publication Act of 1857.  In recent times, the tide has turned very much in favour of this “Picasso of the Pier” and the artist’s saucy seaside postcards formed part of a sell-out exhibition at Chris Beetles Gallery in London.

McGill’s is not the most expensive postcard ever sold at auction, however.  According to Guinness World Records, that title goes to Theodore Hook Esq, who sent a postcard to himself in 1840.  The postcard was bought in 2002 by Latvian collector Eugene Gomberg for £31, 758.75.  It is not just the most expensive postcard, but is also considered to be one of the oldest in the world.

Are you a deltiologist?  (That’s a collector of postcards, to you and me!)  If you’ve got a collection that you think might be worth something, consider releasing capital against the collection by having it valued by Unbolted.  Simply upload a photo onto our easy-to-use site, providing as much information as you can, and one of our experts will be able to advise you as to a loan valuation.  The money can be yours in just 24 hours.  We’ll look after your collection for the duration of the loan period, and it is fully insured from the moment we pick it up, to the moment you repay the loan and receive the collection back again.  You can rest assured that not only is your your collection is in the safest possible hands, but you’re also getting the best interest rates on the market.

If the unfortunate situation arises where you’re unable to pay back the loan, all you owe us is the value of the collection.  Any surplus made from the sale of the collection is returned directly into your bank account.  Does that sound like a good deal to you?  Answers on a postcard, please!