Postcards of the Past
Some articles about Postcard Collecting.
"Looking For Collectible Postcards"
by John Ugoshowa

I’ve found that the best place to find collectible postcards is at art auctions. I was at an art auction in
Eastlake, Ohio looking for stained glass and found them auctioning a lot of vintage collectible
postcards. I bought the lot at the art auction and it contained almost three thousand beautiful
collectible postcards.
About thirty percent of the collectible postcards were pre-linen. These are postcards that were all
made before 1930. The linen collectible postcards were made from 1930 to 1945 and the lot I won at
the art auction had thirty percent linen cards as well.

Forty percent of the lot I won at the art auction was for early chrome collectible postcards. Most of
them were from the fifties and sixties. There were also collectible postcards from the British museum
series from the seventies.

The collectible postcards that are my favorite are all turn of the century and were sent for holidays.
Valentine’s Day collectible postcards from the early 1900s are very romantic. The Christmas
postcards have some really nice artwork. I was really fortunate with the purchase at the art auction
because the assortment was so varied.

My collection of collectible postcards contains many different themes. I like the non-US card. I found
an art auction that had a shoebox full of these postcards and they were from places like Bermuda,
Zurich, Rio de Janeiro, Dresden, Germany, Ireland and even Istanbul. I had never owned a collectible
postcard from Niger before that art auction.

People who do not collect vintage collectible postcards just don’t understand their value. They are
usually not even mentioned as being part of an art auction. I go to art auctions every other weekend
on the off chance that there will be collectible postcards on the auction block.

I am always so pleased when I find linen ere collectible postcards at an art auction. The auctioneer at
most art auctions does not even announce the lot as linen postcards; he usually just announces it as
vintage or old collectible postcards. His lack of knowledge of the subject almost always works to my
advantage.

I have various collections of collectible postcards within the main collection. I tried for awhile to
complete a set of state views in all linen era postcards. I can’t even count how many art auctions I
attended before I even had thirty of the forty eight states. I know that I finally tired of the pursuit and
have just put it on the back burner.

The holiday collectible postcards go to collectors of more than just postcards. I’ve seen people buy
holiday collectible postcards at an art auction just to frame and decorate with them during certain
holidays. I actually found five really nice vintage Christmas collectible postcards at an art auction and
had them framed for my mother as a Christmas gift.

I went to an art auction and estate sale of a man whose grandfather had been a colonel army officer.
The collectible postcards that I found there were fantastic. The officer had amassed 353 different
postcards from India. It was amazing. They had been tucked into an album and never used and were
in perfect condition.

For awhile, I thought that I wanted to collect postcards from soldiers in WWI. I found a two hundred
piece lot of this type of collectible postcards at an art auction in New Haven. The mix of cards was
British, French and German. It was interesting because some of the collectible postcards were
censored. I’ve never seen censored collectible postcards before.

The most I’ve ever spent on collectible postcards at an art auction was $530 for four postcards. They
were all from 1904 and they depicted automobile racing. They were in pristine condition. I doubt that I
will ever find any more even remotely like this the rest of my life. They were exceptional.

The lot of collectible postcards I found last weekend was really fun to look through. The art auction
had a lot of things from a family that had emigrated here from Serbia. The postcards were all from
either Serbia or Belgrade. This was a good lot and it went for the opening bid.

John Ugoshowa.

For more information about Aquariums and fish care see the art aquarium and fish care section of
The Free Ad John Ugoshowa. For more information about art auctions see the art auction section of
The Free Ad Forum at: http://www.thefreeadforum.com/infowizards/CAT/Art-Auctions_82_1.html
The Joy of Collecting Postcards
by Jay Corbin

Postcard collecting is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. The Internet makes it easy to
track down favorite artists, postcards from your childhood, or beautiful pictures of the world around
you. Whether you're a serious collector or just some who likes the pictures, postcard collecting is an
amazing and exciting hobby.
When I was a little kid, my Dad would travel a lot for his job. No matter where he was he would find me
a postcard and send it. I held onto them for years. He traveled all over the United States and Europe. I
got postcards from Georgia, California, Norway, and Turkey. I loved them because I loved my dad but
they were all incredible looking too. I still have most of them and every once in awhile I take them out
and reminisce.

Serious collectors may choose to limit their collections to cards to specific publishers and artists or by
time and location or by type of postcard. Antique postcards date back to the first postcards printed
during the civil war by J.P., Carlton. He transfered the copyright to H.L. Lipman and Lipman Postal
Cards were sold until 1873 when the U.S. Government got into the business. Nine years later
European countries were also producing postcards. Antique postcards have gained popularity in the
past few years because many kinds of messages and layouts have almost disappeared. Most
collectors see to it that they store and display their collection in the best possible way.

Historical societies are major collectors of Real Photo postcards because of their importance in
research about how a city looked at a particular time or what people were doing. Real photo
postcards show many slices of historical life such as town streets, families, and buildings that are no
longer there. With a large enough collection you can get a very good sense of the development of a
town or city. Postcards provide an incomparable glimpse into the society during the period they were
used.

Worldwide, deltiology is the third largest hobby. If you are starting a postcard collection, go after the
ones that you have an interest in. Part of the joy of collecting is knowing a single acquisition found in a
unexpected place may begin a journey to unknown destinations.

Jay Corbin runs the Great Postcard Auctions website where you can find many Real Photo Georgia
postcards and other postcards for your collection.
We want you - we want your articles, comments, old postcards - in fact anything interesting
about Collecting Postcards or about any of the places included in this website. Send them to
us at
gregoryolney@aol.com and we'll publish them here - with an appropriate
acknowledgement of course. So now's your chance to get into print !
Link to this site.
Just email us a url and we will happily put in a link to
your site. Tell us which page you would like it to
appear on - and please put a reciprocal link (to
www.oldstratforduponavon.com) on your site. This
way, we all benefit !
Can't find what you want ? Try the Google
Search box on the right - you never know
what you might come up  !!
Custom Search
"Collecting Old Postcards"
by DWG

Postcard collecting just seems to have happened to me – it crept up without my realising what was
happening. When my dad died I found an old postcard of the “Queen Elizabeth” in his wallet. He and
my mum crossed the Atlantic to New York on this ship in 1967, and he had put a mark on it to show
where their cabin was. So I thought I would keep it, others got added, and then one day, having
nothing better to do, I put them in an old photograph album, and the hobby had started.

Today I have about 4000 cards, most of which appear on this website. I originally intended only to
have postcards of Stratford-upon-Avon on the site – hence the URL name ! – but then towns and
villages near Stratford crept in, and, like Topsy, it just growed so that it now covers most of Europe
and a few places in the USA and Canada.

It is gratifying to learn that other people enjoy the website; there must be a lot because of the number
who send postcard images to me via email. This is great because (a) I don’t have to buy them and (b)
it saves me time processing the images to make them suitable for the web pages. I try to add a few
every day, but as I learn more about site building and arranging the pages and images, I find I have to
make modifications, which can take time. If you have some old cards you think would make good
additions to the website, and if you have time to scan them, I’d love to receive the images and add
them – with of course an appropriate acknowledgement. You can get in touch via email to
gregoryolney@aol.com.

I suppose that, as a hobby, deltiology can be relatively inexpensive – with enough friends sending you
holiday postcards you can soon build up a collection, although the cards will not at first be very old.
But time soon passes, and if you keep your eyes open in charity shops, car boot sales etc, you will be
able to pick up some older postcards at bargain prices. There are millions of old cards out there – go
to ebay and see how many there are for sale at any one time – it’s a matter of finding them