Walker's Fancy Emporium in the 1950s

This postcard was made by A. Walker through the Fancy Emporium at St. Inverness in the early 20th century. The Fancy Emporium is located at the corner of Inglis Street and Baron Taylor’s Street. This shop was “known to sell a variety of goods including tartan novelties, china, leather goods, postcards, and toys” (Nairm, n.d.). Inverness, meaning mouth of the river Ness, is an ancient cathedral city in the Scottish Highlands. In this city lies two important battle sites. The 11th-century battle of Blàr nam Fèinne against Norway and the 18th century Battle of Culloden due to the Jacobite risings.

Fleet and Forth Bridge Postcard of the same collection

This postcard mainly features an illustrative image of the Inverness Castle which classifies it as a photographic type.

I assume this postcard is from a type of clan series that demonstrates iconic landmarks and respective tartans since a quick reverse image search of my postcard revealed a set of postcards created around the same time period, by the same publisher, and with a very similar appearance. All of these postcards exhibit specific Tartan/Tartans which is the unique pattern and choice of colour in the plaid of a Scottish clan, along with a landmark that the clans represent.

There are many things in this postcard that I don’t know. This is because the resources that pertain to my postcard are limited and so too is the information about the publisher and creator itself. With the information researched and extrapolated from a careful analysis, I cannot conclude details about the intention behind the creation of this postcard such as why the creator chose to highlight the different clans.