Postcard of the stadium, Burnden Park, Bolton

Product detailed description

Condition: good

Dimensions: 14.8 cm x 9.8 cm

Stendal’s venerable Hölzchen for groundhoppers! A four-view colour postcard of the Stadion Am Hölzchen in Stendal, home of FSV Lok/Altmark Stendal. It shows the entrance gate with the Wilhelm Helfers Kampfbahn sign and ticket booths, an aerial view of the oval, the pitch with a goal, and the stand with the announcer’s tower, with the Saxony-Anhalt Football Association crest in the centre. The reverse describes a rebuild costing about 9.6 million marks over a faded team photo from August 2001. Altmark Sport series, No. GW 06. Unused.

A lost temple of English football! A colour photographic postcard of Burnden Park in Bolton, home of Bolton Wanderers from 1895 to 1997. The view looks across the pitch to the covered stand with a large Ingersoll-Rand advert on its roof, lattice floodlight pylons and a packed terrace with a Bolton Evening News sign, police officers and fans in the foreground. Produced by the Royal Mail Post-A-Photo service, the reverse is pencilled Burnden Park, Bolton Wanderers. The stadium was demolished after the club moved to the Reebok Stadium. Unused.

Facts at a glance

• Item: colour photographic postcard (Post-A-Photo), unused, no stamp
• View: Burnden Park stadium, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
• Club: Bolton Wanderers (ground in use 1895–1997, later demolished)
• Details: stand with Ingersoll-Rand roof advert, lattice floodlight pylons, terrace with Bolton Evening News sign
• Production: Post-A-Photo, A Special Royal Mail Service
• Reverse: pencilled Burnden Park, Bolton Wanderers
• Date: probably before 1995 (based on the 0204 dialling code on the advert)

Expert note – FAQ

What was Burnden Park?
Burnden Park was a football stadium in Bolton, Greater Manchester, home to Bolton Wanderers from 1895 to 1997. The club then moved to the new Reebok Stadium in Horwich and Burnden Park was demolished. A retail park now stands on the site.

What is a Post-A-Photo postcard?
Post-A-Photo was a Royal Mail service that printed customers’ photographs directly onto postcards with a pre-printed address side. This makes it a genuine photograph rather than a commercially published postcard, and such items are often unique or made in just a few copies.

How can the photo be dated?
The phone number on the Ingersoll-Rand advert begins with the code 0204. UK dialling codes changed in April 1995 with the addition of a 1, so Bolton’s 0204 became 01204. The photo was therefore most likely taken before 1995, in the stadium’s final years.