Featured Recent Postcard Lot

Hello Folks,

Here are some early postcards from a postcard lot I recently purchased. Got about 55 keepers for my collection/hoard overall but the best cards are pictured here. Paid $70 including tax. Think I did OK since there are a few cards here that would make that money back fairly easily. The Halloween card is unfortunately badly damaged, but I still like it. Obviously, the builder of this grouping had some connection with Ridgeville Indiana - lived there or knew someone who did. There are also 100+ other cards (mostly greeting cards) that are not worth much that I am going to pass along to a flea market dealer for next to nothing just to not add more clutter my space.

Your thoughts?

Joe

 

I hate seeing trees that big cut down. It's hard to tell where that is, but if it's in Indiana or the Midwest US, it's even more heartbreaking given how old those beasts woulda been.

 

It was postmarked Seattle, Washington. Have a few other lumber themed cards in the lot, also a few agricultural cards -- good cross section of the rural economy.

 

That makes sense. Big Douglas firs. There's not many of those giants left up here. But they do grow pretty fast, as far as trees go.

 

I hear ya.... but building America comes at cost ....

 

Especially with the amount of wood used in North American houses.

 

Thanks for sharing, @Joe2007 . I love the Halloween card!

 

Awesome little collection. I love that shingle yard card. I really like RPPC’s overall. It’s sad that the vast majority of local industry like that went by the wayside. The man with cock and old west main st are amazing too. I bet that ND Main Street card would sell very well. I think old west cards are very desirable. I just got a fun handful of cards recently too. Paid more than I usually would but they were good and it was the only way I was getting them. I’d say you did well.

 

Glad you found some good cards. I really like industrial cards of factories, coal tipples, and such since stuff like that are long gone and aren't coming back. That ND Main Street card is why I attended the auction where I got these, the auctioneer had a blurry photo in his advertising.

Good postcard lots are getting harder to be able to buy at reasonable prices. I think all the antique dealers know they can buy lower end cards and stash them in an antique mall booth and get $3-5 per card. Anything better gets listed on eBay. There are several postcard sellers on the Bay with a hundred thousand + active listings. It is amazing what folks will pay $5-10 dollars for, stuff I wouldn't even consider adding to my collection.

 

Gotta love when the auctioneer blows it with their photos and/or description. I’ve done very well for myself hunting for those situations in catalogs. One auction house employee for upset with me for taking advantage of his mistakes every auction. I did feel kinda bad but proof read your damn catalog if you don’t want me finding the value in your flubs.

The ND card was a great catch. If you sell it and don’t mind plz share what it brings. I’d be curious to know. Anything that captures a part of history which is now only history is very interesting. I like just rppc local scenes too. Just seeing a place as it was but no longer is. The local industry cards are particularly interesting.

I feel like eBay is kind of over saturated with postcards a bit. It kind of became en vogue to be a postcard dealer in the past 5 years. Mostly I think because they are so easy to store, list, and ship. I don’t personally have the patience for it. All my cards I initially bought to sell have become a personal collection. I’d like to get my retired mother started selling them to supplement her fixed income but she seems disinterested. For some reason I have a relatively easy time finding good collections cheaply. Not top notch ones but good collections with maybe 10%-20% really salable stuff and a good bit of other interesting stuff worth having. They seem to get slept on in my particular area for whatever reason.

 

You are right on the money that they are popular since they are easy to store, list, and ship. The postcard community also seems fairly laid back, honest compared to other areas of collecting that are much more cut-throat like Coins or Sportscards.

I've had some really good luck this year at a couple of auctions. About 65% of the time postcards sell really high, I think to dealers - some of them driving for hours to attend. The remaining 35% of the time I do really well since the competition was napping and didn't show up. About 6 months ago I got five shoe boxes full for $60 total. It was almost highway robbery. Got a number of really cool RPPCs, 6 Halloween cards, and some interesting South American Real Photos that I think could be fairly scarce and desirable.

If you haven't already, make sure you go to a postcard show. The big one is in York PA every November but there are shows all across the country. You may not find many bargains, but it is eye-opening experience to see what is out there and what folks are looking for.