The Paper Girl

A Vintage Graphics Blog

SOLD: A Magical Stewart & Woolf Silhouette Postcard

  • A black silhouette of trees and a stately cathedral on a background of metallic silver and gold, marked "Aberdeen" and "Old Machar Cathedral".
  • The back of an old postcard. It has a short message written in a child's scrawl. The postcard is marked as series 311 and published by Stewart & Woolf, London. Printed in Bavaria.

This old postcard is truly something special.

Stewart & Woolf of London produced spectacular silhouette postcards, with windows aglow and each building’s details outlined in at least one of the background colours, around 1904. Examples I’ve seen have used limited colour palettes—usually two colours, no more than four—to stunning effect. There’s a lot of vaguely-metallic silver and/or gold, with the overall effect being akin to staring at the location head-on during sunset or sunrise.

I don’t run into these often. In a decade of postcard-collecting I have stumbled on exactly one, and that was the Old Machar Cathedral seen above. Aberdeen, Scotland.

Their collectability goes without saying. Stewart & Woolf silhouette postcards pop up on eBay every so often and range in price from $10 CAD to $40 CAD before shipping.

The Aberdeen piece sold in October 2025 for $24.00 CAD and, after transaction fees, I walked away with $18.94 CAD. Not bad!

Let me know what you think of this post by commenting below!

signed, missie

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Changes Happen Now and Then

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Back in February 2025, we decided that it was time to close Treasures by the Locks, and the months after were a whirlwind of preparation and panic. We ran an auction through MaxSold for most of the store’s stock—the leftovers that we didn’t want to try to sell on our own went to 1-800-GOT-JUNK and we walked away from 7 May Street at the end of May.

I fully intended to dump all of my energy into this venture… and then I went and got myself a full-time job (insert sweatdrop emoji here). It has me working 45 hours per week (50, if you include the commute), with very little energy for much else.

This job is allowing me to pay down my line of credit (I’ve gone from $9,5331 owing to $6,250 since July) and, with any luck, I’ll be free of it in 4 months. At that point, my credit card will be next and can probably be knocked out in a couple of months.

It’s also letting me get some desperately-needed upgrades: a few additions to my wardrobe, a new document scanner, and some other things here-and-there that I’ve been needing for several years but haven’t been able to buy.

The new scanner is set up and ready to go. I need some storage bins (to make sense of all the crap I’ve had to shove into my room since shutting down the store) and, possibly, a few other organization-related things, but, it’s a step in the right direction.

In short: a lot has changed since I last posted anything relevant to what I’m doing here. I haven’t given up, I’ve just had to take a step back.

I’m looking forward to taking that scanner for a run and to work’s yearly shutdown, so I can get back into the swing of things here. In the meantime, watch the shop and check out the new Patreon.

See you soon,

signed, missie

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Edmund Fitzgerald at Soo Locks

When the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was commissioned in 1957, she was designed with size in mind: upon her launch in 1958 she was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes and immediately became the flagship of Oglebay Norton, the company that sailed her. They put her to work hauling iron ore from Minnesota to be processed at various ports along the Great Lakes.

edmund fitzgerald at soo locks sometime in the 1970s

The Fitz was a familiar sight at the Soo Locks over her 17-year career. One day in 1970, photographer Lucy Gridley snapped this shot of the massive laker at the locks. Captain Peter Pulcer, ever the showman, was likely engaging in his regular running commentary over the intercom on the way through. He was in command from 1966 until Captain McSorley took the helm in 1972.

Something I didn’t know about the Fitz was that, in 1969 and 1970, she was involved in 3 separate incidents that caused significant damage inside and out.

In September 1969, she hit ground near the Soo Locks. Less than 8 months later, she collided with SS Hochelaga, and 7 months after that she hit a wall while passing through one of the locks.

If you’re curious, you can find a timeline of SS Edmund Fitzgerald‘s life and death at ssedmundfitzgerald.org.

I can’t imagine she would have been easy to navigate, especially with over 26,000 tons of taconite on board.

Today’s postcard is from my personal collection. I’m very interested in ships and shipwrecks, so I tend to stash away most of my ship postcards—however, if you’d like to get your hands on a postcard like this one, eBay usually has some listed.

I recommend starting your collecting journey there. Most postcard resellers are as passionate about these pieces as you and I, and if you’re not sure about something, you’re welcome to reach out to me.

Until next time, friends.

signed, missie

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