Postcards

[CC-Hunter]

Any market for old postcards? I have one stack of French postcards from the WWI years and another from U.S. sites and cities dating to the 20s and 30s.

 

[buzzhead]

I've alwAys had very little luck with postcards unless they were local to the area I was in.

 

[Justice70]

I have a box full also but I don't think they are very profitable. I will probably end up selling the whole box as a lot at a g.s. which is the same way I purchased them.

 

[dumpsterdiver]

I have a good box full I got from an auction. I haven't figured out the best way to list them either. Most of the sellers seem pretty competitive. I know many look very interesting to me personally. At local auctions I've seen them go up pretty high for a small box. Sometimes I wonder if the stamps are worth anything. I haven't bothered to list them mostly because a lot of post cards do not take up that much room in comparison to most items. I hope this thread gets some helpful responses.

 

[diggummup]

There's a market for them. You just have to do your research to see if anything you have is worth more than .25- .50 a piece. I have several thousand and still collect.

 

[jerseyben]

I have a huge box of them. The going price seems to be $1 each for common ones. I do not think too many of them are worth big bucks but I have seen some in the $20-30 range.

 

[clovis97]

I wonder if the stamps are worth anything.

In my experience, probably not. Most are low denomination stamps, like 1 to 3 cents, and are common issues. Generally speaking, most post cards have the commonly issued stamps, and not the commemorative issues, which typically are more desirable.

Your local library should have Scott catalogs, which is the authority for stamp collectors. If nothing else, you can use eBay to search "one cent George Washington stamp."

Generally speaking, stamp values are fairly low until you get to 1900 or before, but again, I am speaking in extremely general terms.

I am no expert, but I have looked at thousands upon thousands of US postcards in my life, and not once have I seen a stamp that I thought "that looks valuable."

 

[Paleo_joe]

The only postcards I will ever buy are "real photo postcards" or RPPCs. They are actual B&W photos and you can date them by the manufacturer, most are early 1900s. I sold one of a hamburger stand for over 100 bucks. Since they are real photos, they depict early local happenings and scenes that people want.

 

[Mackaydon]

I keep some for their historical and conversational value; others I keep because they are unused and pre-printed with the stamp; like this one:

Don.....

 

[CC-Hunter]

Thanks for all the info and advice. I did a little searching on ebay and found a number of old French postcards that sold. Not big money, but a lot of folks getting from $1 to a few bucks each, plus shipping. I may try a few - easy enough to drop into a business size envelope and ship. The French postcards were not used and were probably collected for the pictures on them, I assume. They are wide - about twice the width of a normal postcard. The U.S. postcards have been written on and mailed.

 

[dumpsterdiver]

In my experience, probably not. Most are low denomination stamps, like 1 to 3 cents, and are common issues. Generally speaking, most post cards have the commonly issued stamps, and not the commemorative issues, which typically are more desirable.

Your local library should have Scott catalogs, which is the authority for stamp collectors. If nothing else, you can use eBay to search "one cent George Washington stamp."

Generally speaking, stamp values are fairly low until you get to 1900 or before, but again, I am speaking in extremely general terms.

I am no expert, but I have looked at thousands upon thousands of US postcards in my life, and not once have I seen a stamp that I thought "that looks valuable."

Thanks, I guess my thinking was 1 cents thats got to be old. Maybe I will check out that catalog. I do not really have the attention to detail that the stamp experts have but I guess I should brush up on some basic knowledge.

 

[villagenut]

I'm with Paleo Joe on this one. The RPPC cards can fetch 5 to 100 dollars depending on the subject and the town it is featuring. I myself am guilty of spending 40 dollars for a local interest card and have been outbid many times from a certain other buyer who wanted them more than I did. You get two or more folks wanting that particular local card and it is worth however much they are willing to pay. Old street scenes or old buildings from a specific town and preferably early like 1907-1910 and you may have some good profits.

 

[clovis97]

I keep some for their historical and conversational value; others I keep because they are unused and pre-printed with the stamp; like this one:

Don.....

I have six of the exact PC that you have sitting here on my desk. Someday, I keep saying, I'm going to affix the additional postage to bring it up to today's PC rate, and mail them to someone, like my sister, just for kicks.

 

[clovis97]

The French postcards were not used and were probably collected for the pictures on them, I assume. They are wide - about twice the width of a normal postcard.

The U.S. postcards have been written on and mailed.

Once upon a time, a large majority of people didn't have cameras, and if they did, they only had black and white film. So, while traveling, they would pick up a stack of post cards of the things that they had seen, mostly to show off when they got home.

PC's were inexpensive, common, often brightly colored (depending on the era), and generally showed the subject better than a regular person could obtain with an average camera, again, depending on the era.

As an interesting side note, my mother's family did not own a camera while they were growing up. Film and processing was expensive for their budget, so the only pictures that exist of my mother's family came from relatives. There are just a handful of pics of my mom and her siblings.

FWIW, you might see terms to describe post cards as "postally used" and "postally unused."

 

[CC-Hunter]

Here are examples of the French ones. In the US ones, I found a Yankee stadium one that sold for $10-15 on eBay.

 

[Mackaydon]

Your vintage pics are of the Louvre Museum and surrounds; no doubt of some value.
Don.....

 

[diggummup]

Based on the size of those cards, they are what is termed as panorama or panoramic cards, because of the double width size. Views of Paris were a pretty common theme for early 1900's French cards and although they are old, they probably won't generate too much interest. The fact that they are panorama cards may help a little as they are harder to find. They were not very popular, the reasons being because they were awkward to make, sell, store and use, making them harder to find on today's market. Posted examples are more rare because people folded them when mailed and over time the creasing left them vulnerable to splitting and falling apart. If they were French risque cards, then you'd have something special.

 

[inspectorgadget]

Boxes of post cards do not sell very well at local auctions but old photo or scrap albums full, all mounted nicely can sell for a pretty penny. $350-$450 per album is not unusual where as a box full bight bring $10-$25. The older the better from what I've seen & like digg said risque cards are always a winner. Seems like WWII pinup girl anything has value, even matchbook covers.