'It should be in a museum': postcard sent 121 years ago arrives at Swansea address

In the age of next-day deliveries and speedy shipping from all corners of the world, the days of waiting around for a letter or package were thought to be over.

- Sammy Gecsoyler

In Swansea however, staff at a building society were taken aback after receiving a postcard that was delivered 121 years late.

The card is believed to date back to 1903 but was only recently received by staff at Swansea Building Society in Cradock Street.

The addressee, Lydia Davies, is believed to have lived on the street more than a century ago and would have been 16 when she was supposed to receive the card.

Printed on the postcard is a work by the 19th century English animal painter Edwin Henry Landseer titled The Challenge, which shows a stag standing in the snow on the bank of a body of water by snowy mountains.

Henry Darby, the building society's marketing and communications officer, said how the postcard ended up at his workplace remained a mystery, but that he hoped to find those related either to Davies or the sender, Ewart.