Postcard Primer
Matthew E. Liebson
Postcard Primer
Introduction
View Cards
Greetings Cards
A Note About Condition
Introduction
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Postcard collecting (deltiology) is becoming quite a popular hobby. This is really the "second wave" of collecting; postcards were commonly collected in the 1905-1915 period, maybe even more than now. The period is often referred to as the "postcard craze", and it's a fairly simple task to find old postcard albums laden with cards
collected by individuals, or to find cards that mention trading a card for a card. After all, they were a cheap hobby at about a penny apiece!
I'm not a very serious deltiologist, but I do collect a few things. I'm more of a philatelist and a postal historian, but a significant crossover exists between deltiology and philately. Of course, the different hobbyists tend to look at different sides of the card! This "primer" is primarily for philatelists who are just now beginning to look at the picture side of the cards; deltiologists may want to flip their
cards over and take a look at the stamp and postmark primer which I have prepared. As I understand it there is quite a bit of good deltiology literature available, so you may want to hunt for that to get more detailed (and more accurate!) information.
A Primary Distinction
I generally lump postcards into two over-arching categories: view cards and greetings cards. View cards are those that show scenes, buildings, towns, and so forth. Greetings cards are everything else! Of course, that's being too simplistic. The category of "greetings" as I use it would encompass holiday postcards, birthday cards, generic cards, comedy cards, and other such items.
View Cards
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Pioneers and Private Mailing Cards
Real Photos
Undivided Backs
Divided Backs
White Borders
Linens
Chromes
View Card Topics
View postcards may be lumped into several main, and more or less chronological, categories, which are briefly discussed and illustrated below. The cards shown are all from my collections of Granville, Ohio, or of Denison University, located within that town.
Pioneers and Private Mailing Cards
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The earliest postcards in the United States appeared for the Columbian Exposition in 1893; they were printed directly on the backs of government postal cards. They are very attractive but may sometimes be found for $10 or less.
The US post office was slow to accept these cards; early cards were typically charged full letter postage. Before 1904 or so, post cards were supposed to be identified as "private mailing cards"; such cards are popular and relatively scarce today.
Real Photos
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Realphoto cards are, well, real photographs. They occur throughout the different periods of cards, from very early up to modern cards. They are characterized by their fine detail and color gradations; if you view one under magnification you should be able to see the photo grain. Many were
printed on special paper so the photo could be mailed as a postcard. Many professional varieties exist; they are often captioned in white (the photographer wrote in ink on the negative, which then appeared white when the negative was used to make the photographic prints). Many (typically of family, etc) were also done by amateurs for private use; they tend to be of much lesser quality.
Undivided Backs
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Undivided back postcards were published in 1907 or earlier. You may find a wide variety of types, including both black and white and color cards with wide variation of clarity and detail. Among my own favorites are cards made by the Rotograph Company, which are often colored in lovely, mellow tones.
The name refers to the reverse of the card. Prior to 1907 only the address was permitted to be written on the reverse of the card, in keeping with the regulations for government postal cards. Just to be clear, here is a scan of the reverse of an undivided back card.
Divided Backs
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The picture side of a divided-back card looks much the same as the earlier undivided-back cards. Divided back cards were published in the 1907-1915 period; again, the distinguishing feature is the reverse, which will show a vertical line in the middle of the card. During this period the government permitted a message to be written on the left side and the address on the right. This was a substantial improvement over the undivided back cards, where a message, if written at all, had to be squeezed in the margins of the picture, or written directly over the picture.
A scan of a divided back reverse is here.
White Borders
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White border cards made their appearance in the late teens and were made throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s. They are characterized--you guessed it--by the fact that the designs do not extend to the edges of the card, but rather are "framed" within a border. The image above is of an early card; here is a later one that shows the border more clearly.
Linens
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Linen cards look like white borders, and were manufactured in the 1930s and 1940s. The surface of a "linen" card is textured; it's easy to see and feel but it doesn't scan well. Moreover, I've never seen a linen card from Granville or Denison, so I do not illustrate one here.
Chromes
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"Chromes" are modern postcards, staring in the 1950s and continuing today. They are generally photographic in appearance, as opposed to the hand-colored appearance of earlier cards. Reproduction quality improves dramatically in newer cards!
View Card Topics
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Ok. Now that you have figured out what kind of card you have, what are you going to do with it? How do you tell a good card from a cheap card? Well, I don't know. There aren't sure-fire answers to these questions. My commentary here is really just a group of general observations from my own experience. Collectors seem to prefer earlier cards over later ones; most "serious" collectors seem to shun anything later than a divided-back card unless it's a real-photo. Admittedly, the earlier cards are often more interesting because of what they show.
With regard to the views, some things are more popular than others. The more unusual, the more valuable the card is likely to be. Cards showing scenes and buildings from world's fairs or expositions are quite popular. Cards showing streetcars, early automobiles, aircraft, etc. are also very popular. Cards showing baseball games or stadiums can reach extraordinary prices. Some states are also more popular than others; a Western state will often trump an Eastern state. Smaller towns are generally better than large cities. Many people (such as myself) collect by town and state. Others collect by topic--hospitals, post offices, railroad depots, libraries, or courthouses, just to name a few.
Probably the best way to see what's hot--and what's not--is to take a flip through recent or current auction listings from any of the online auction houses. Remember, though, that the vast bulk of view cards (except for real photos) will retail for $5 or less.
Greetings Cards
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As I stated above, what I call "greetings cards" are cards that don't fit in the "view" category. The bulk of these would be "holiday" cards, which are probably the most common of postcards. It's still possible to find dealers at postcard shows with large boxes of 10-to-25 cent cards! Holiday postcards were quite popular in the 1907-1920 period before giving way to larger cards mailed in envelopes. Among the most common holidays are Christmas, Easter, New Year's, and Thanksgiving. More unusual holiday cards command better prices--especially Halloween cards, but also 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day, and so forth. There are even cards for the Hebrew New Year!
Even some of the common holidays have valuable cards. Christmas cards showing Santa Claus are quite popular, and if Santa is wearing anything besides red the card is a good one. Easter and Thanksgiving cards that show animals dressed in clothing and performing various activities are also quite popular.
There are also a wide variety of more generic scenes, comedy cards, and who knows what else. Collectors don't seem to chase these much, though cards showing kittens or dogs are usually popular, as are "romantic" or "couples" cards (an aside: a small group of those makes a great anniversary present!). Some collectors collect by artist--most of the greetings and holiday cards were original artwork. An "artist-signed" card is one that bears the signature of the artist somewhere in the artwork; it doesn't actually bear the handwritten signature of the artist. The most famous of the artists is probably Mucha, who produced gorgeous artworks in the Art Nouveau style (he also designed Czechoslovakia's first stamps). His cards can sell for over $1000!
A Note About Condition
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Deltiologists, like any other hobbyists, are concerned about the condition of their postcards. Collectors generally prefer mint cards to used ones (they are missing out on a lot of fun by avoiding stamps and postmarks). Predictably, a card that is creased, torn, stained, soiled, etc. is worth less than a pristine one. Even a slight rounding of the corners can prove troublesome for the more perfectionist collectors.
Most cards were printed on card stock with high acid content; as a result some become brittle or discolored. Cards get dirty or bent easily, so be careful handling them!
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