My Postcard as an Historical Artefact

oban coa.jpg white heather.jpg

There are many historical elements presented within this postcard. The ‘white heather‘, which is the flower that lines the border of this postcard, is historically known to be a flower that is a symbol of luck, however; the heather flower in Scotland is very common in a purple colour, so the white heather is seen as rare and lucky to find. This picture also has a Campbell Tartan border around the image with the dark blue and green colours, and white and yellow lines creating the plaid. There are many different shades of the Campbell Plaid in Scottish history, however, the darker colours seen in this postcard are known to hold authority and were used by authoritative members of society such as people in the military. The Campbell Clan plaid would have been used in this postcard for marketing and popularizing of this postcard as it was known to be one of the biggest Clans in the Highlands of Scotland.

In the top right corner of this poster is a crest of arms, which is known to be the coat of arms of Oban. Each image on this coat of arms holds a different meaning of the values and traits and historical significance of the people and town of Oban. The black and yellow stripes in the right-hand corner of the coat of arms represents the Campbell Clan and the Duke of Argyll. The bottom image shows a ship at sea with a fish in the water below which could symbolize the water in Oban as the Atlantic Ocean surrounds this small town and creates beautiful scenery for tourists. The top-left image in this coat of arms is of a lion with a blue background which historically is known to symbolize courage, royalty, strength and other loyal traits. The Knight that is seen above the coat of arms has red blue and yellow decorative leaves emerging from its figure, and the knight is typically known to symbolize family in historic postcards around the world. This postcard was sent to another individual in the Netherlands but was published from a local company in Oban. The publishers of this postcard are listed on the side of the back as J. and L. Menzies, which is still a popular publishing company today in Oban, Scotland. It looks as if this postcard was sold as there is an indicator that it was $6 written in pencil on the topic of this postcard. The historical value of this postcard would depend on the person who was viewing it. To people from Oban, the original coat of arms symbolizing a sense of home and history and to other tourists this could symbolize their travels and the iconic scenery they experienced while traveling Oban, Scotland.

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