Postcard c1904 Lantern Hill Ilfracombe Devon Rough Seas Raphael Tuck Unused

Storm-tossed and sublime — this dramatic Raphael Tuck & Sons "Oilette"-style card depicts the Lantern Hill at Ilfracombe, Devon, a rocky promontory crowned by the ancient St. Nicholas Chapel (used as a lighthouse for centuries), engulfed in churning grey seas and wheeling seabirds in a composition more Romantic painting than postcard photograph. The image reproduces an atmospheric oil painting with extraordinary fidelity: crashing white surf, dark storm clouds, and a flock of gulls wheeling through the spray give the card an almost cinematic grandeur. Published as part of Tuck's prestigious "Sapphire Sea" Series 6804, subtitled "Rough Seas, Ilfracombe," and bearing the royal warrant "Publishers to Their Majesties the King and Queen," this undivided-back card dates to approximately 1902–1904 — the Edwardian golden age of the picture postcard. Unused, it retains sharp detail and is mounted in a collector's corner-mount album page.