posted on January 26, 2008 09:15:17 AM new
Digging in an old trunk in the barn I just came across an old photo album chock full of these kind of postcards. Judging from the actual camera made photographs that are included that have notations on them, these were all collected on a family road trip in 1940, at least that's what all the photos say. The PC's are all glossy and look like regular photo prints except when you pull them out of their little corner mounts they are on card stock with mailable backs. All are in very good condition, but the album they're in is falling apart. The pages are all that old black construction paper felty type stuff and it's beginning to crumble. I don't think I'm interested in selling these but wouldn't mind knowing their value and most importantly how to conserve them so they're enjoyable. I was thinking of some kind of art mount so I could display them. Thanks for any and all comments!
posted on January 26, 2008 09:42:39 AM new
Lucky lucky you, profe!
One thing to keep in mind: As I search for and buy old postcards for our local museum, the photographer is often more important to us than the subject matter of the photo. Whenever there's a photographer's name, be sure to include that if you list the cards. And you can also search for the photographer's name and see what others say about the age (and the value!). Adele
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posted on January 26, 2008 09:50:39 AM new
Great ones Prof. The Native American one is a Frashers Fotos RPPC - I've come across several Frashers collectors.
The Wickenburg Sun, Jan 21, 1955, p. 10
Widely Known Guide Who Died Last Week, Local Woman's Uncle
Wednesday's Republic carried a story about the death last week of William (Uncle Billy) Crosby, 82, widely known guide, cowboy and one-time Indian interpreter, who was a familiar figure to thousands of tourists and hunters at Jacob Lake Lodge in Northern Arizona, "Uncle Billy" was the uncle of Mrs. Georgia JACKSON of Wickenburg, and had been a visitor in our town a number of times.
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posted on January 26, 2008 09:59:12 AM new
As for value, I would guesstimate $10 per card retail value. It could go much higher if the scene is rare or a highly desireable locale.
posted on January 26, 2008 11:38:49 AM new
Get them off the black pages if they are mounted with corners and not pasted down. That paper will be full of acid. Store them in acid free plastic sleeves. I display some of my more interesting RPPC in frames by cornering them with acid free corners on archival mount board and overmating to keep the plexiglass from touching the cards. I get my supplies from Light Impressions.
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“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on January 26, 2008 06:03:44 PM new
It all depends on the buyers on eBay how high a postcard will go. When I was younger I lived in Wisconsin and drove home every weekend to visit my Parents in Minnesota. I passed a site many many times. One day I went into an antique shop and there was a RPPC of the area. I bought it and stuck it away. I think it was a couple of years ago I went through my postcards to sell the ones I didn't want and that nobody but me cared about. That postcard was one of them. I put it on eBay and expected to get about $10.00 but what to my surprise when the auction ended it went for $67.00. So you really never know the value of a card. I watched it and I couldn't imagine why that card was so valuable and I still don't know to this day.
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posted on January 26, 2008 06:51:51 PM new
How true, Libra. It's hard to say "the market" determines the price when it only takes two to drive the price up on eBay. The surest way I have to determine a card's potential is to do a search for similar cards. Even this isn't fool-proof, since eBay has limited our search on completed items.
posted on January 27, 2008 04:06:16 AM new
Several years ago I was listing a group of cards I had purchased together at an antique shop. they were quite varied and I was not hopeful of selling some of them but many were quite nice and ultimately sold.
Anyway there was this one card that was black and white and very dark with a picture of a barge on the Ohio River. It was captioned with the name of an Iron works that now escapes me. I thought it was a purely ugly card, and the whole time I was listing it, I was saying “why am I wasting my time on this card?” It sold for $37.50 and the guy that bought it thanked me for listing it, he only collected cards related to this Iron works and had been looking for this card for 38 years!
posted on January 27, 2008 05:59:30 AM new
Thanks for the information. I don't plan to list these, not that broke, yet. My main concern is getting them conserved and I'd also like to display them. They have a nice unifed theme as they were all collected in the four corners states.
