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An Outdated Trafalgar Square

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Wednesday 25 May 2011

An Outdated Trafalgar Square

I wrote a little while ago about the practice of some London postcard companies endlessly recycling old images and selling them as new. Here is another notable example, purchased yesterday for a whole 10p in Trafalgar Square.


If you click on the image you will see more detail. Even without zooming, if you have visited London in the past decade, you will be able to tell this is a period piece.

The pedestrianised terrace and grand stairs leading from the National Gallery into the square have not yet replaced the road and the Sainsbury Wing extension to the National Gallery hasn't been built, so the view must be at least 20 years old. When you look in detail at the traffic I think it is more likely to be nearer 50 years old!

I suppose that as long as people keep buying old images, assuming them to be current, the postcard sellers will continue recycling them. At least I can build a collection of vintage views on the cheap.

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posted by Peter Berthoud @ 06:06   2 Comments

2 Comments:

At 25 May 2011 at 18:08 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Holy cow, where's the BT Tower?

 
At 25 May 2011 at 18:37 , Blogger Peter Berthoud said...

Thank you for your comment.

Yes you are right, I think!

It might just have been out of sight to the eastern side of the National Gallery. That is being charitable to the card makers though.

I think the image probably dates to around the time of the Tower's construction, June 1961 to July 1964. Maybe it was airbrushed out at the time? I believe the crane constructing the tower was regarded as an eye-sore at the time, so maybe, even then, the original card makers were not interested in accuracy!

 

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