Burntwood grandmother's postcard collection could fetch £75,000

But the collection of around 750,000 individual cards is so vast, valuers estimate it might take years before they can all be auctioned.

Jane Westwood, from Burntwood, started collecting at the age of six.

Now aged 63, she has amassed a gigantic archive dating from the early 1900s to the present day, completely filling a spare bedroom in the home she shares with husband Graham, 69.

From boxes holding 750 cards each and albums filled with 400 postcards a piece to some packed containers still to be sorted, hundreds of thousands of postcards have been catalogued into themes and locations.

The collection is expected to fetch between £50,000 and £75,000, although experts at Richard Winterton Auctioneers say the archive is so comprehensive that in many respects it’s priceless.

“It started when I was six years old – my sister moved to Australia and sent me postcards,” Jane said. “I kept them and put them into a book and, as I got older, it became a serious interest.”

After Jane and Graham married, they would scour shops for postcards while on holiday and frequent car boot sales looking for additions to the burgeoning collection.

“I would even buy a trunk load of them and then sit here in the lounge and go through the whole case one by one,” Jane added. “It's the fun of never knowing what we're going to find in the bottom of a box.

“I only bought cards I liked and it did develop into an obsession – wherever I went, I didn't look for anything other than postcards.”

While many of the postcards are photographic, numerous examples are hand-coloured, embossed or made from silk.

Publishers include Bamforth, Raphael Tuck, J Beagles & Co, H Vertigen & Co, J Welch & Sons, Wildt & Kray, J Salmon, Rotary Photographic and many more.

The collection even stretches to a couple of 1s vintage postcard dispensers, by Falcon (Postcards) Ltd, Manchester, one of which will feature in the first auction at The Tamworth Auction Rooms on Wednesday, April 26.

The April auction includes an impressive album of London postcards ranging from Edwardian times to the 1960s and featuring all the major historical sites in the capital including Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column, Buckingham palace, Marble Arch, the Royal Albert Hall, Hyde Park Corner and Horse Guards Parade.

Another interesting lot features an album of romantic French courtship postcards from the early 20th century.

“It is the most wonderful, eclectic collection of postcards I have ever come across,” said Robert French, ephemera specialist at Richard Winterton Auctioneers. “Not only has it got everything in terms of subjects from topographical to transport, it’s the sheer quality of the cards themselves and the comprehensive cataloguing and organising accomplished by Jane. It is very, very impressive.

“It’s almost impossible to put a price on the collection as it’s so special. We would expect a total in the region of £50,000 to £75,000 but in many respects it’s priceless.”

The catalogue will be online a week before the auction via www.richardwinterton.co.uk/auction-dates.