Raphael Tuck and his sons.

Although, this card is not part of a series, it is one of a large collection created by Raphael Tuck & Sons company, founded in 1821. This card was designed at the Studio in England and printed at the Fine Art Works in Germany. Every postcard created by Tucks had the British royal coat of arms, which we can see on this one.

The Tuck trademark was also always included, yet we cannot see it here, because it was often printed in the box where a stamp would be added. The company sold many things, but postcards became the success. In 1899, the first Tuck postcard was printed after the change in the British Postal regulations. The change allowed publishers to create cards that were five and a half inches by three and a half inches. In 1940, the Rapheal House was unfortunately ruined by German bombs and many of the postcards were lost (Rapheal Tuck & Sons, n.d). 

The Rapheal Tuck & Sons company logo, usually placed in the area for the stamp.

The Station Hotel, AYR postcard is an illustrated design of various infrastructures, rather than a photographic representation. In this way, the card was able to be manipulated with bright colours and to create a more appealing scene. Since photographic postcards are most often referred to, illustrated cards are more difficult to understand. This card in particular may be what is referred to as an “Ollitte,” which was popular in Rapheal Tuck’s work. If so, these colour reproductions were made to resemble oil paintings. Another possibility is that this card could be a “Facism”, which are extremely similar to olittes, only they were mostly reproductions of watercolour paintings (Prosheka, 2001).