Postcards

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About Postcard Collecting

Postcards became popular at the turn of the 20th Century, especially for sending short messages to friends and relatives. They were collected right from the start, and are still sought after today by collectors of pop culture, photography, advertising, wartime memorabilia, local history, and many other categories.

Postcards were an international craze, published all over the world. The Detroit Publishing Co. and Curt-Teich were two of the major publishers in the U.S, and sometimes individuals printed their own postcards as well...

There are many types of collectible vintage postcards. Hold-to-light postcards were made with tissue paper surrounded by two pieces of regular paper, so light would shine through. Fold-out postcards, popular in the 1950s, had multiple postcards attached in a long strip. Real photograph postcards (RPPCs) are photographs with a postcard backing.

Novelty postcards were made using wood, aluminum, copper, and cork. Silk postcards – often embroidered or with a printed image – were wrapped around cardboard and sent in see-through glassine paper envelopes, and were especially popular during WW1. In the 1930s and 1940s, postcards were printed on brightly colored paper designed to look like linen.

Most vintage postcard collectors focus on themes, like Christmas, Halloween, portraits of movie stars, European royalty and U.S. presidents, wartime imagery, and photos of natural disasters. Not to mention cards featuring colorful pictures by famous artists like Alphonse Mucha, Harrison Fisher, Ellen Clapsaddle, and Francis Brundage.

With vintage postcards, subject matter, condition, and rarity, plus general desirability and demand, determine value.

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Interviews & Articles

An Interview With Metropolitain Museum Curator Jeff Rosenheim On The Postcard Collection Of Walker Evans

In 1994, I had the great pleasure of acquiring the complete archive of Walker Evans for the Metropolitan Muse…  [more]

An Interview With Vintage Postcard Collector Ann Waidelich

I worked for 35 years as a reference librarian with the Madison Public Library and I just got interested in M…  [more]

An Interview With Postcard Collector Andreas Praefcke

Andreas Praefcke (Ravensburg, Germany) collects postcards of old and new theatre buildings worldwide. His com…  [more]



Newsletter Archives

San Francisco Bay Area Post Card Club

San Francisco Bay Area Post Card Club

"Organized in 1985, our mission is to foster and promote postcard collecting in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area …  [more]





Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)

U. Delaware Postcard Collection

U. Delaware Postcard Collection

This collection of over 2000 postcards provides a peek at life in and around Delaware in the early 1900s. Browse g… [read review or visit site]

Carthalia

Carthalia

Andreas Praefcke's postcard collection of theatres and concert halls worldwide. Showcases 3700 images of over 1810 … [read review or visit site]

Digital Past

Digital Past

Digital Past, a group effort by dozens of Chicago-area institutions, boasts one of the world's largest online colle… [read review or visit site]

Stevengraphs Bookmarks and Postcards

Stevengraphs Bookmarks and Postcards

Malcolm Roebuck's tribute to the ornate silk picture bookmarks and postcards ('Stevengraphs') produced by Thomas St… [read review or visit site]

Tall Tale Postcards

Tall Tale Postcards

Don't let this one get away from you. This 'unbelievable' collection, from the Wisconsin Historical Society, featur… [read review or visit site]

Penny Postcards

Penny Postcards

Great collection of American penny postcards from the early 1900s, organized by state and then county. Includes a n… [read review or visit site]

Old Tokyo

Old Tokyo

This beautiful site features a collection of tinted postcards, woodblock prints, and early maps of Tokyo. The image… [read review or visit site]

Postcardy.com

Postcardy.com

Lynne Appel's reference site contains useful information for postcard collectors such as such as a Postcard Collect… [read review or visit site]

Ephemera Blog

Ephemera Blog

Marty Weil's wide-ranging, in-depth blog on ephemera, including lots of great interviews with ephemera collectors. … [read review or visit site]


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Clubs & Associations: Postcards


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Recent News: Postcards

Source: Google News

Collectors find history in postcards

Greensboro News Record
Layne and others like her see vintage postcards as windows to the past. “They are a record on our community,” said Benjamin Briggs, executive director of ...

Yvaska: A collector s book for Fourth of July

San Jose Mercury News
The 128-page tome is peppered with illustrations from early magazines and scads of vintage postcards. These innocent images of Uncle Sam, Lady Liberty and ...

July 4th Antiques auction features Victoriana, early postcards ...

Examiner.com
July 4th Antiques auction features Victoriana, early postcards ...
Examiner.com
8000 TO 10.000 POSTCARD COLLECTION INC: BOOKS OF SANTAS, HOLIDAYS, MUCH MORE, MANY EARLY OUTSTANDING TOYS INC: JOHNNY WEST COVERED WAGON IN ORIGINAL ...

Vintage Dental Posters: Stylish and Nostalgic

The Wealthy Dentist
Vintage posters are cutting-edge chic these days, and dentists can get in on the action too! The British Dental Association just re-released a series of ...

Core of the Matter

Packet Online
These included hand-painted vintage postcards and a Century Magazine account of a canal trip taken by a group of aristocratic New Yorkers. ...

Paris Fashion Week: Paul Smith and the power of positive thinking

Los Angeles Times
And, just in case anyone was slow to pick up on Smith's upbeat message, one T-shirt proclaimed it (in vintage-postcard style) in a single word: YES. ...

The hardy folks of the valley the Patapsco River runs through

Baltimore Sun
Fox digitally colored some of the book's photographs, which gave them a vintage-postcard look while the black-and-white images of buildings and the ...

A late bloomer in full flower

Boston Globe
The sun-splashed living room of Russell and Kaplan's house, perched on the northeastern edge of the San Francisco Bay, is filled with vintage postcards and ...

Unresolved road movies

Irish Times
A vintage postcard view of the original terminal at Dublin airport and a muted study of the shadowy platforms at Limerick's Colbert Station are both ...

CJ Pike: Admission is free at Willowbrook this Saturday

Foster's Daily Democrat
Kicking off the weekend events on Saturday, June 13, is Dairy Day, with free admission to the Willowbrook museum. Wagon rides will be provided at ...

Top eBay Auctions    (get weekly Postcards email)

Status       Display       How this works
Aiko 'lady Kill (nude)' Signed Print + Banksy Postcard$253.70 Ends Sunday 6 bids 18 watchers
Halloween Postcard Winsch Schmucker Witch Gobliins$180.00 Ends Sunday 14 bids 12 watchers
Risque Pin Up Girl Mutoscope Arcade Post Card Vintage$179.50 Ends Sunday 13 bids 17 watchers
Germany - 1931 Graf Zeppelin Postcard - Sieger 0108 I$153.50 Ends in 8 hours 6 bids 8 watchers
Hong Kong China 1930s Des Voeux Rd. Rppc Postcard Wc51$140.00 Ends Sunday 11 bids 13 watchers
1947 Vtg Postcard Rppc Capitola California Restaurant $137.49 Ends in 9 hours 8 bids 5 watchers
Ben Eine 'hell (yellow)' Signed Print + Banksy Postcard$134.22 Ends Sunday 4 bids 25 watchers
Old Postcard Album W/ 200 + Cards 1904 '06 '07 - 1920's$113.50 Ends Sunday 6 bids 15 watchers
Hong Kong 1940's B/w Rppc Des Voeux Rd. Che San & Co.$109.16 Ends Sunday 10 bids 8 watchers
Elvis Presley Original Signed Post Card ( 1935 - 1977 )$105.00 Ends Monday 6 bids 11 watchers
Joe Dimaggio Autographed Perez-steele Postcard$102.83 Ends Wednesday 3 bids 2 watchers
Germany - 1931 Graf Zeppelin Postcard - Sieger 119 A$102.50 Ends in 8 hours 8 bids 10 watchers
Rppc Shortest Railway Court Flight La Ca Postcard 1945$100.00 Ends Sunday 7 bids 3 watchers
Brazil - 1931 Graf Zeppelin Postcard - Sieger 125 C$99.00 Ends in 8 hours 4 bids 8 watchers
Jewish Shtetl Scene Poland Judaica Postcard Rrr$95.00 Ends in 6 hours 1 bid 1 watcher
Saar - 1930 Graf Zeppelin Postcard - Ostseefahrt$92.00 Ends Sunday 10 bids 6 watchers
Germany/poland Meseritz Synagogue Postcard-rare! $89.00 Ends Monday 1 bid 4 watchers
S635 Alligator Border Postcard Tobacco Sale$88.99 Ends in 18 hours 6 bids 5 watchers
Vintage C1918 Postcard Album China Japan Hong Kong$87.00 Ends in 5 hours 3 bids 17 watchers
Himalaya, K2, Lino Lacedelli Signed Postcard$81.00 Ends in 11 hours 7 bids 7 watchers
Halloween Postcard Vintage Embossed Germany Skeleton$79.99 Ends Sunday 13 bids 11 watchers
Titanic Postcard Salesmans Order 3 Books 1912$78.77 Ends Sunday 6 bids 19 watchers
S586 Alligator Border Postcard Riverside Park Jax Fl$76.00 Ends in 18 hours 5 bids 6 watchers
S587 Alligator Border Postcard Ostrich Farm Florida$76.00 Ends in 18 hours 5 bids 5 watchers
S553 Alligator Border Postcard Hotel Ponce De Leon$76.00 Ends in 18 hours 5 bids 5 watchers
Hong Kong 1950's B/w Rppc Central Vehicular Ferry Pier$76.00 Ends Sunday 10 bids 4 watchers
Old Postcard Album 110 Cards Christmas Santas Easter$74.99 Ends Monday 4 bids 10 watchers
Hong Kong China 1930s Queens Rd. Rppc Postcard Wc60$72.00 Ends Sunday 9 bids 9 watchers
Dayak Man Rppc Earrings Jewels Borneo Malaysia 20s$69.99 Ends Monday 1 bid 3 watchers
Art Nouveau Postcard Kirchner Legendes I Lady Peacock$67.66 Ends Sunday 5 bids 12 watchers
P.m. Boats Dock Ludington Michigan Rppc Pm Mirquette$66.00 Ends in 8 hours 6 bids 4 watchers
Superb Ww1 Gordon Highlanders Regiment Silk Postcard$65.47 Ends Sunday 5 bids 7 watchers
Pink Floyd Wish Uk Orig In Shrink! W Postcard Prog Lp$64.70 Ends in 7 hours 6 bids 17 watchers
Rppc Gilchrist Mine Postmark Wellsburg, Wv 1908$60.59 Ends Tuesday 4 bids 1 watcher
Hong Kong 1930's B/w Rppc Queen's Rd. C. Jervois St.$56.00 Ends Sunday 7 bids 3 watchers
Postcard Album 281 1900s Postcards Italy Boston Us Rpcs$54.70 Ends Wednesday 3 bids 5 watchers
China Stamp ,t46 Post Card Shanghai To Zhejiang$51.00 Ends Sunday 8 bids 24 watchers

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