...Royal Engineers' insignia

Here is another mystery. This is Royal Engineers insignia from the Second World War. But what is the significance of the warthog, since I can find no reference connecting it to the Royal Engineers?

Did the different companies of Engineers have different emblems?

...a mystery float

Here is a photograph dating from the early years of the twentieth century. Who were these people? Why had they decorated a float? Were they participating in a parade? There are no real clues in the photograph, except that they had paused on the road near a church or chapel, and that all were dressed in their best, other than the bearded gentleman holding the horse.

...German minefield Flag

This wartime souvenir was a marker for German minefields during the Second World War.

It is stamped RLM for Reich Air Ministry, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, which is a slight puzzle, though the person who acquired it did visit the V2 rocket launch site at Cuxhaven, Germany, in 1945 and may have collected it there.

The Germans used a variety of signs to mark minefields, usually with a skull and crossed bones, including a triangular cloth version of this sign.

...Royal signatures

This insert from a Christmas card sent in 1939 by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth was rescued from a waste paper bin, hence the cigarette burn.

By legend, the card - of which the picture part is missing -  was sent to a close relative of Queen Elizabeth, the mother of our present Queen.

Then, as now, it was common for royal signatures to be done by an autopen machine, since so many royal signatures were required. And it is possible that the King's signature here was done in that manner. However, it is likely that the card was genuinely signed by Queen Elizabeth because she omitted the letter "R" for Regina from the end of her name, which you normally see on her autopen signature, and one would expect that a card sent to (say) a sister, aunt or cousin to be personally signed.

...a playful postcard

This postcard dated 1902 to a single lady has a message in backward writing and an inverted stamp. The positioning of a stamp on a postcard at this time often signified some friendly or romantic message, although sources differ somewhat as to the potential meanings.

http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Language-of-Stamps.jpg

This card was sent the very year that postcards first began to have a divided back on which to write both the address and the message.

I leave the reader to decipher the message, if they wish.

...Sad Sack comics 1960's

Sad Sack was a cartoon character invented and drawn by the American cartoonist George Baker (1915-1975). Baker did not however write the stories that he illustrated. The name Sad Sack was a shortened version of a then common, and mildly rude, phrase referring to an inept person or american soldier. (See the Wikipedia link below for more information).

The comics were imported and sold in the UK for 9d, that is nine old pence. But if memory serves me correctly, they were not available in mainstream newsagents, such as W H Smith, and one had to search them out, as one did the DC comics featuring Superman, Batman, the Flash etc.

Here is a typical example of Sad Sack's exploits.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sad_Sack

...a sketch of Samer 1815

This ink sketch of the market place at Samer, in Normandy, Northern France, is dated 1815, and is probably originally from a traveller's sketch book, possibly someone British, if the pencil inscription is contemporary with the drawing.

The date is significant because 1815 was the period of Napoleon's so-called Hundred Days, which culminated in his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium on 18 June. This picture may date from just after this time, when many travelled to the newly liberated French capital, and may well have passed through Samer.

It shows a gentle scene; a woman carrying a pail, a lady holding a child, who seems to have a second child attached to her dress by a cord. A man lies prone, reading a book, together with others.  And behind them is the church of St Martins, to which unusually abuts a string of houses. One interesting difference. The artist shows a square bell tower, whilst the ancient shape is seemingly octagonal. A bit of poetic licence perhaps?

It is a scene that has changed little in two hundred years, as photos on the town website indicate:

http://www.ville-samer.fr/