Moody's Postcard Blog: March 2007

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

1908 Mexican food in San Antonio Texas

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I ran across this postcard yesterday when I was adding items to Moody's Postcards and was really impressed with the image. While San Antonio Texas has LOTS of different postcards, you should take your time and look through all the common ones for the diamonds in the rough that are overlooked by many. The postcard title, "Mexican Chili Stands" is the tip off that this one is different. In the background is the huge beautiful post office and on the right is an advertisement for " 'Lion Brand' collars, They are 4 ply. 15 cents-two for 25 cents". Below that is a delivery wagon with a sign on the side that says "Henry C. Rips, Moving Packing Shipping,Vacuum Carpet Cleaning". But best of all in the center foreground are the Mexican chili stands, benches and eating tables set with white table cloths, glasses turned upside down, and large candle lamps (7 on the first table) for light during the night. Behind each of the 3 large "U" shaped tables is a vendor with a table on 2 saw horses where the food is prepared. The printed description on the back says "For the sake of olden times the Mexicans are still allowed to set up their tables and camp stoves on the Plazas and serve their native dishes in the open air; Chili Con Carne, Tamales, Enchiladas, Chili Verde, Frijoles and Tortillas, etc. As the day dawns and the lamps show dimmer, these hotel keepers put out their fires and folding their tables 'silently steal away' until another night." This postcard is listed in TEXAS section of Moody's Postcards.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Mechanical Postcards

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Mechanical postcards fall under the broader category of novelty postcards and are highly desirable. Not only do they incorporate various mechanical mechanisms but they usually are of high printing quality as these were originally sold at premium prices. The postcard below is an example of a rotating wheel postcard with the red, white and blue colors on the wheel rotate to give the turkey's tail a lively look. You can see other mechanical postcards at Moody's Postcards.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Easter Postcards

Welcome to Moody's Postcards, your source for vintage, collectible postcards! My name is Richard Moody and I started the company in 1986 and we have been accumulating "old" (otherwise known as "vintage collectible") postcards for twenty years. We specialize in United States view postcards but we also have thousands of antique foreign views, topical postcards and trade cards. Our goal is to exceed your expectations and provide a superior selection of the collectible postcard you are searching for.
Easter is just around the corner so I thought I would highlight an Easter postcard to give you an idea of what is available. In the early 1900s postcards were used much like the phone and emails are today and this gave rise to "Greeting Cards" which were exchanged by the millions on most holidays including Easter. Just like everything else now and then, there are the great, the good, and the bad. The better publishers such as John Winsch and Raphael Tuck produced great postcards illustrated by some to the best artists of the time. The results are often breath taking, beautiful, sometimes full of fantasy with dressed rabbits and chickens as well as the religious theme. This is a great area to collect as the greeting cards are plentiful and reasonably priced for just about any budget. You can see more Easter postcards at Moody's Postcards.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

LARGE LETTER Greetings from ? postcards

Large letter greeting cards are a very popular item and inexpensive to collect with the majority being produced from the 1930s into the 1950s. Popularity increased significantly when the post office released Large Letter stamps for the states a couple of years ago as the general public was introduced or reintroduced to these beautiful postcards. While the state Large Letters are the most common, there are also cards of military bases, colleges, cities, national parks and there is even one on Havana Cuba. Generally speaking though, these cards usually cover a geographic location but there are some on stores, hotels and even businesses but these are more difficult to find and usually are more expensive and rightly so based on their availability. In addition to the example below, be sure see a representative example of state LARGE LETTER postcards at Moody's Postcards on my state index pages. Be sure to view all six state index pages to see LARGE LETTERS from all states.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Books on View Cards

Books on view cards in general just do not exist as far as I know however you can find some information in books such as James L Lowe's "Standard Postcard Catalog" that I mentioned in my last blog. In that book under "Sets and Series" you can find mention of Raphael Tuck series on St. Augustine Florida, St. Louis Missouri etc. Also, the "Detroit Publishing Company Collector's Guide" by Lowe and Papell which was done in the 1970s and Nancy Stechschulte's 1994 book "The Detroit Publishing Company Postcards" have extensive information about the postcards (estimated to exceed 17,000) produced by the company, many of which were view cards. You can also find information in books such as "Baseball Stadium Postcards" by Tom Crabtree, "Nevada Post Card Album" by Robert Greenwood, and the large number of books published by Arcadia Publishing in "The Postcard History Series". The Arcadia books are done by individual postcard collectors who share their collection and knowledge of specific towns or areas. There may very well be an Arcadia book that will cover the area you are interested in so check out their website at Arcadia Publishing and the price is less than $20.

When shopping for postcards on you favorite town, remember that content is king and availability and condition are close behind. The first card below shows a nice view of the Galesburg Illinois Burlington Railroad Depot but has the big plus of the California Zephyr in the station.

The second card shows the interior of the French Market in New Orleans. While exterior views are common, this scarce interior view with tables built around the columns with ornate mirrors on the columns and stools for the patrons increases the value of this card substantially.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Postcard Reference Books

"Buy the book before the coin" was the slogan of a book dealer for coin collectors over 30 years ago and that is still good advice today and also applies to postcards and any other collectible. Just about every hobby has books to help the collector and postcard collectors have a wide range of helpful books. If you are just beginning, I would suggest "The Postcard Price Guide" by J. L. Mashburn which he updates every few years. This is a great general review of postcard collecting and covers most of the major categories, dating postcards, grading postcards and gives price ranges for the various grades of the many postcards listed. I would also suggest buying each new addition since he not only updates prices, he uses different postcards for illustrations giving you additional exposure to what is available. Mashburn also publishes postcard category specific books including books on Sports, Artist Signed and Blacks. These books can be found on Amazon, Books A Million and Barnes & Nobles as well as the author's website Colonial House Publishers, www.postcard-books.com. Another book that is considered the bible for postcard collectors is "Standard Postcard Catalog" by James Lewis Lowe which was published in 1982. Long out of print and very hard to find, it is worth the search if you can find it because it has 288 pages of very detailed information. Needless to say the prices given are way off now but they can be used to determine the better cards. One place you might try to find this book is the Gotham Book Mart or you might run across it on eBay. One area you will not find much help on is view postcards as they are so diverse and have many different traits that drive their price. I will cover view cards next time but for now there are hundreds of great books to help you with your collecting interest so just get on the Internet and search them out. Get the basics down first and the fine points will come with time and exposure to the postcard world.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Dating Real Photo Postcards

Real photos are highly sought after now after being ignored for many years. Dating them is difficult and not an exact science. While postmarks can give you a "not newer than" date, the best method for determining the approximate age is often the stamp box on the address side. Usually, the stamp box will contain the name of the company that produced the photo paper of the postcard. Using this name you can often determine the time period of your postcard. That said, there are times when old negatives were reprinted on newer paper and it is not unusual for a stamp to cover the box or sometimes there is no box. Fortunately for both of us, the postcard pioneers have done the work for us and created a reference that illustrates the different stamp boxes and the years they were in use. Below is the front and back of a real photo showing the stamp box on the back with the initials AZO in the frame and all four corner triangles pointing up. That dates this particular card from 1904 to 1918 which agrees with the date on the front of Sept. 5-6 1912. This real photo postcard has lots of great elements including cowboys, a parade, children, those new fangled automobiles carrying the band and a baby carriage decorated with new tin drinking cups. WOW!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 9 The Photochrome Era

The seventh postcard era is the Photochrome Era and runs from 1939 to the present. The "Modern Chromes" that fill the postcard racks of today were introduced in 1939 by the Union Oil Series with various states represented on these advertising cards. Soon, several of the publishers including Curt Teich, Dexter Press, Plastichrome and Mike Roberts followed with postcards that were characterized by beautiful chrome colors on a slick finish. This group of cards has been growing in popularity in recent years since they document history from the 1960s forward that were not covered when the linen era finally ended. This series is, and will be, sought after by the "baby boomers" as they seek images of their formative years. Below are two examples of chrome postcards from Moody's Postcards. The first is for Shasta Trailers and shows a horse drawn Amish carriage pulling the camping trailer.

The second image is an aerial view of the "new" 1960s Daytona International Speedway.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 8 The Linen Era

The sixth postcard era is the Linen Era, 1930-1945, and is so named because of the linen like paper with a high rag content used in combination bright inks. Large quantities were produced and these postcards were considered cheap and were largely ignored until the 1990s. As the generation from this era began to graduate into their later years, interest began to pick up as many of the cards were local views of those towns where they grew up. Popular views included the small town street scenes, swimming pools, schools, factories, military bases, roadside motels and the LARGE LETTERS "Greetings from" postcards to give you an idea of what is available. The first is a 1937 typical small town street scene in Casper Wyoming.

The second is a 1938 aerial view of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company's Fairfield Tin Plate Mill, the United States Steel Corporation's "newest" expansion in Fairfield Alabama.

Next time we will examine the Photochrome era which will bring us to the present.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 7 The White Border Era

The fifth postcard era is called the White Border Era since a common trait of these cards was a white border around the image. This era began after World War I ended the "Golden Age of Postcards" and ran from 1915 to 1930. World War I in Europe ended access to the high quality printers in Germany and the rest of Europe and American publishers fired up their presses to fill the void. American technology enabled printers to produce quality cards but the competition was so fierce that many publishers cut the quality to keep their prices competitive. Holiday, seasonal and greeting cards declined during this period but view cards remained in demand. It should be noted that some white border cards were seen before 1915 but they were not the norm. Below are two examples from Moody's Postcards that illustrate postcards of this era. The first is a circa 1915 Alabama postcard showing downtown Selma.

The second is a circa 1915 Georgia postcard showing a downtown Marietta street full of horse drawn wagons with bales of cotton.

Next time we will move into the Linen era.

Friday, March 9, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 6 The Divided Back Era

The fourth era is the Divided Back Era which is also referred to as "The Golden Age of Postcards" and ran from 1907 - 1915. It began on 1 March 1907 when the divided back was allowed on the postcard and America was late to this party as most of countries of the world had already adopted this format. During this period the image normally covered the entire card and, since the message could be written on the back, collector enthusiasm for postcards increased. Almost every home had a postcard album on the parlor table for the family and guests to view and see the wonders of the world. The Victorian age flourished in the US along with great optimism. Postcards were sold by the millions and clubs were formed throughout the US to exchange postcards with strangers from far away places. According to the International Postal Union, over 140 BILLION postcards were mailed from 1907 through 1919 and millions more were bought and collected but never mailed. This truly was the Golden Age of Postcards. Below are two examples from Moody's Postcards that illustrate two typical examples of postcards from this era. The first is a 1911 New Orleans Louisiana postcard showing the Mardi Gras Carnival crowd watching floats on Canal Street.

The second is a circa 1908 San Antonio Texas postcard showing the Mexican chili stands set up in the plaza next to the beautiful post office.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 5 The Undivided Back Era

The third era I will discuss is called the "Undivided Back Era 1901-1907" but just keep in mind that the two previous eras I discussed also were undivided back eras. On 24 December 1901, the United States Congress granted permission to use "Post Card" on the back of privately printed issues and allowed the regular size postcard of today but still limited the back of the postcard to just the address. Since the message from the sender was still restricted to the front of the card, most of these cards still have writing on the front with many of the cards setting aside a white space for the message. This era marked an increased interest in postcards by the publishers of the day and by the general public. Large numbers of cards were still printed in Europe but American publishers grew their business and new publishers arrived on the scene but the quality of most was inferior to the overseas competition. Detroit Publishing Company became one of the dominant publishers of the day with their "phostint" process which used lithographic stones to print their postcards in a process brought from Europe. Another dominant publisher at this time was Raphael Tuck & Sons from England but they had a large office in New York and produced lots of US postcards.

While postcard views produced prior to this period resembled European postcard styles, the early 1900s saw the US lean heavily on view cards and serious art was not seen on American postcards. While French postcards reflected the Art Nouveau movement the US limited itself to postcards of classical paintings from museums and no serious contemporary art appeared on our postcards. Below are some examples of postcards from this era with the blank message space on the front. Both of these postcards are for sale on Moody's Postcards.

Next time we will move to the divided back era.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 4 The Private Mailing Card Era

The second era in the evolution of postcards is the "Private Mailing Card" era which ran from 19 May 1898 to 24 Dec 1901. The start of this era, as mentioned in my last post, was the passage by Congress of a law allowing private printers permission to print and sell postcards which resulted in the use of "Private Mailing Card" as the title on the address side of the postcard. You will often see this term abbreviated as PMC today. The postal regulations required the size of 5 1/2" x 3 1/4", which is slightly small than today's size of 5 1/2" x 3 1/2", and also required the wording "Private Mailing Card - Authorized by Act of Congress on May 19, 1898" on the address side. Also, it changed the postal rate to one cent as long as only the address was on the back. If any other information appeared there, then the letter rate of two cents applied. Many publishers from the Pioneer era just reprinted their earlier cards with the new reverse. An example of a typical front and back are shown below. We have a nice selection of PMC's at Moody's Postcards.

The next post will discuss the undivided back era and it's characteristics.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 3 The Pioneer Era

The American postcard history is generally divided into seven eras spanning 1893 until the present day. The first picture postcard originated in Europe in the 1860s and the US began flirting with them during the civil war with envelopes and letterheads with patriotic designs and trade cards. The US government issued their first official postcards in 1873 with a postage rate of one cent while letters required 2 cents postage. This half price rate insured their quick acceptance by the public and businesses which printed their sales pitch on the back of the government post cards. Pictures on postcards did not really take off until the Columbian Exposition in 1893 when Charles Goldsmith issued and sold thousands of color postcards. This exposed a diverse audience to the picture postcard and the frenzy was on. The only downside to these new privately printed picture postcards was that the government required the letter rate of two cents postage on these privately printed postcards while the government postcards were still just one cent. But the cat was out of the bag and pressure mounted on Congress to lower the postage rate which they did, as of 19 May 1898, by reducing the rate on privately produced postcards to one cent. Thus ended the United States Pioneer Era, 1893-1898. Please note that this evolution in foreign countries covered slightly different time periods, depending on the country in question but the US generally was slower to change than Europe.

Postcards of the Pioneer Era all have undivided backs, primarily were multiple vignette views and usually were titled "Souvenir Card" or "Mail Card" on the address side. You can find out more about the different postcard periods at Moody's Postcards.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 2

Part 1 looked at the front of the postcard for clues to the age of your postcard so today I will cover the reverse or back of the card. The first thing you need to look for is whether or not the back is divided or undivided. The generally accepted beginning of the picture postcard was the Columbian Exposition in May of 1893 and postcards had an undivided back then which could only be used for the address. That changed on 1 March 1907 when the divided back was authorized and you could included your message on the back. During the undivided back era, many postcards were designed with a blank space on the front to allow a message to be included without defacing the image. This is why you will see my descriptions refer to "proper writing on the front" which means the postcard has an undivided back or I will say "writing on the front" meaning the postcard has a divided back. This 1 March 1907 date refers to US postcards and other countries generally went to the divided back before the United States. England changed over in 1902, France in 1904 and Germany in 1905. See examples below with the Undivided postcard saying "This Side for the address" and the Divided Back showing the left side for correspondence and the right side for the address.

Many people today assume that a postcard with a 1 cent stamp is automatically very old but the rate for postcards was 1 cent until 1951 except for 1893-1898, 1917-1919 and 1925 to 1928 when the rate was 2 cents. Some of us were born before 1951 and we do not consider that VERY old.

Another clue to the age of your postcard is where it was printed. From 1893 until the beginning of World War I in Europe, many postcards were were printed in Europe with Germany and England being a major suppliers since they were the premier printers of the time. Notice that both postcard examples above show they were printed in Germany. During and after WW I, the United States became the dominant producers of US postcards.

Other clues to the age of your postcard are the general layout, stamp box design, printing fonts used by the different postcard publishers and in some cases, such as the Curt Teich Company, the production numbers on front or back.

Next time I will discuss the various stages or eras that postcards went through over the last 100 plus years which can also help in determining the age of your postcard.

Friday, March 2, 2007

How old is my postcard? Part 1

Determining the age of a postcard is a task that can range from easy to impossible and requires knowledge, a keen eye, research and lots of luck. If we are talking about a used post card, many people will just use the postmark date or the date written by the sender in the message. Postmarks are great for determining a postcard is at least "X" number of years old but it is really only good for determining the latest date it could have been produced. The problem is that it is not at all unusual to see a postcard not mailed until 15, 20 or even 25 years after it was actually produced so you really need to look harder to narrow down the time frame. You can study the image, if it is a view card, for clues such as the vintage of any automobiles shown, the style of clothing worn, the presence, or lack of, horse drawn carriages and wagons, dates on buildings or even see if the tracks on that dirt street are tire tracks or wagon tracks. If you are really lucky you can find a copyright date for the image, especially on the early Detroit Publishing postcards. This Reno Nevada view shows only horse drawn wagons on a dirt main street where the gambling halls were located at the time and would therefore be circa 1908 but there are other clues on the back of this unused postcard which will be covered in my next blog.

One word of caution on the elements of the view card. It was not unusual for the postcard producer to add automobiles, people, airplanes and even blimps to pictures to spice them up a bit and make a town seem more big time than it really was. Be sure to check back with us for Part 2 of this discussion.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Finding that special postcard among millions

Everybody files their postcards a little different and that can make it hard for you find that special postcard you are looking for. I want to make that easier for you and as an example, let's assume you collect postcards related to Teddy Roosevelt, our 26th President who took office September 14, 1901 to complete William McKinley's unexpired term. The postcard shown below is a Teddy Roosevelt postcard you can find here at Moody's Postcards. This is a postcard that could be filed under "Bears", "Teddy Roosevelt", "Fantasy", "Political" or even "Firearms". I placed it under bears because it is the dominant theme to me. To another collector or dealer, the Teddy Roosevelt connection might be the most important. This is one of the problems collectors and dealers alike face since many postcards can cover multiple categories. Another example would be a lighthouse at St. Simons Island Georgia which could be filed under "Georgia Views" or "Lighthouses" in Topics.

This is where a website and a good search engine is a lifesaver for both the dealer and collector. The dealer can be assured that the item will be found regardless of where it is listed IF he has described it adequately and IF the collector uses the search engine using the same terminology the dealer used to describe the card. The lesson here is be sure to make multiple searches using all the common ways you can think of that a dealer might describe what you are looking for. For the "lighthouse", you might also want to try "light house", for a "movie theater", you might also want to try "movie theatre" using the older spelling that is often used on postcards. Also, don't get too specific on your first search. If a general search returns too many possibilities, then you can be more specific based on what you see returned on the general search.

Search engines are different and some are better than others depending on what you are looking for. Most search engines return a page where the word or words you searched for are located. Then you have to scroll through the page to see if what you want is there. We use a different type of search engine on Moody's Postcards which will return each postcard listing that has the key word or words and the results are in the same format as they are listed on the website. This gives a much cleaner look and you only see listings that meet your search criteria. Be sure to go to Moody's Postcards and give it a try. It requires special coding for each postcard but I believe the results are worth the extra effort.