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All price ranges below reflect images where clarity and sharpness are superb, the overall condition of the RPPC is EXCELLENT NEAR MINT and the image dates to pre-1940. It is also assumed that the physical location of the card is verfied by writing, postmark or photographer caption on the postcard itself. Images that are blurred or damaged should have their values cut by two-thirds off the lower range value stated below. For more adjustments both Positive & Negative to the prices see notes at end of price guide list. ADVERTISING: Automobile Id'ed Make $20-$50 Black Baseball regional $200-$500 Billboard Hangers $50-$75 SOCIAL HISTORY: Drug abuse related $200-$450 SPORTS: Baseball Team Pro $1500-$9,000 TOPICAL: Covered Bridges $8-$12 TRANSPORTATION: (larger images command higher values) Air Planes Air shows $100-$425
All pre-1940 images & all at identified locations price range EX-N
Abbreviations: +&- Price adjusting factors to items on list above. ADD $$$$$ Small Image subtract 66%
**************************************************************************************************************************************** There is some confusion on what Real Photo postcards are and how to identify them. Real Photo postcards are Black and White photographs that are reproduced by actually developing them onto photographic paper the size and weight of postcards, with a postcard back. There are many postcards that reproduce photos by various printing methods that are NOT real photos...the same methods used when reproducing photos in magazines and newspapers. The best way to tell the difference is to look at the postcard with a magnifying glass. If the photo is printed, you will see that it is made up of a lot of little dots, the same as a photo printed in a newspaper. A real photo postcard is solid, no dots. Most real photo postcards have identifying marks on the back, usually in the stampbox corner, that identifies the manufacturer of the photographic paper. You can approximate the age of the Real Photo by knowing when the paper manufacturer was in business. View some Real Photo Postcard's in my store for examples. Dating GuideSome common stamp box corners noted here: AGFA/ANSCO 1930-1940s
Other Postcard Types:Private Mailing Cards (1898-1901) Undivided back (1901-1907) Starting December 4 1901, publishers were allowed to use the word POSTCARD on the back, but still no writing was allowed on the non picture side, except for the address. Divided Back (1907-1914) Starting on March 1, 1907 postcards could be printed with a vertical line on the back, with the area to the right of the line for the address, and the area to the left for a message. White Border (1915-1930) During this period, cards were printed with a border around the picture, to
save ink. Quality during this era was often not up to the earlier
standards.
***************************************************************************************************************************************** The Golden Age of postcards, marked by the "divided back", began on March 1, 1907 with the enactment of a new law by Congress. This law, made it legal to pen a message on the reverse side of a postcard. The address was to be written on the right side of the reverse while the left side was reserved for writing messages. With the passage of this new law, the postcard hobby became a public addiction in America. Publishers printed millions of cards in this era, most being printed in Germany, the world leader in lithographic processes at the time. At the height of this country wide mania, WWI began and it brought with it, a crash in the hobby as the supply of postcards from Germany came to an end. English and U.S. publishers seized the opportunity to fill the gap with their products, many of which were of lower quality. The loss of the beautiful German cards coupled with the recurrent influenza epidemics, and WWI war shortages all had an adverse affect on the American postcard hobby. Then, as a last straw, the proliferation of the telephone, provided a fast, reliable means to keep in touch, at least for short distances in larger cities. The phrase, "Drop me a Line" became less important and hence, it is considered that the "Golden Age of Postcards" came to an end about 1915. HISTORY MATTERS! Snapshots of the Past The postcard view is now highly sought after by many historical institutions (including the Smithsonian!) and individuals, as it serves as a pictorial record of the past. Be it the view of a town main street, the local church, school, roadside attraction or the countryside, the post card mirrors the way our parents, grandparents and even we, once lived. Captured in these olden day images are views of people in the dress of the day, often at work, at play, at school or at church. The "Golden Age" postcard offers us a nostalgic look back in time, to a specific moment almost one hundred years ago. People from the city spent their summers in the country, generally to escape the heat. Others who traveled or went "visiting", all sent postcards back home for these were the days prior to big media and the proliferation of images. The picture postcard shared with the receiver, a look at life elsewhere. Libraries kept post cards in catalogue files, offering their patrons the opportunity to see what life and the country looked like elsewhere. Those in towns, also sent postcards to each other for in the early 1900's, the postcard was the e-mail, as well as the greeting card, of the day with a view of perhaps, the home town or a pretty holiday wish. Naturally, all first class mail went fast, in big cities the mail was delivered three times or more a day. In many small towns, it came at least twice a day. The use of telephones was not yet wide spread and long distance calls were to be avoided by most due to financial considerations. The picture postcard cost less than a nickel to purchase, but to really trim the budget, one could use a government postal purchased for a penny, including card and postage. Now, with an understanding of the medium, take a trip down memory lane with the magic of a post card!
Snapshots of the Past The vogue of lithographed cards caught Eastman-Kodak's attention. They issued an affordable "Folding Pocket Kodak" camera around 1906. This allowed the mass public to take black & white photographs and have them printed directly onto paper with postcard backs. Various other models of Kodak "postcard" cameras followed igniting a real photo postcard era. These cameras shared two neat features: their negatives were postcard size (the major reason why so many of these images are so clear) and they had a small thin door on the rear of their bodies that, when lifted, enabled the photographer to write an identifing caption or comment on the negative itself with an attached metal scribe. This is the reason that so many of the earlier photo cards are "one of a kind". Early on professional photographers capitalized on the new craze and themselves captured images that they printed on the processing papers that were being made available by a number of companies at the time. They advertised their ability to make as many copies as you liked from your negatives. As the decades passed and new technologies developed, it became even more common for commercial photographers to mass-produce and market these real photo postcards, which reached their zenith in the 1940's. ___________ The postcard view is now highly sought after by many institutions and individuals, as it serves as a historical record of the past. Be it the view of a town main street, the local church, school, roadside attraction or the countryside, the post card mirrors the way our parents, grandparents and even we, once lived. Captured in these olden day images are views of people in the dress of the day, often at work, at play, at school or at church, offering us a glimpse back in time to a specific moment. With the magic of a post card take a trip down memory lane! To Return To The List of All Communities Click Here |
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