12 Tips for Collecting Antique Postcards

If you haven’t heard, the Western New York Postcard Club has been holding its show and sale for 40-some years, and this time, it’s moving closer to Rochester, so it should be more convenient for many of us hunters and gatherers.

With the sale running from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 21, I thought it would be a good idea to review my strategy for making the most of my time and money. I thought my plans might be worth sharing with you, too.

To enjoy the event, score some deals, and come home with a few (dozen) more treasures for a (growing) collection, follow these tips:

1. If you already collect postcards, and have the time, look through your collection or your inventory to remind yourself of which ones you already have. (Okay. If your collection is already huge, you might not have time to do that.)

2. If you know you’re looking for something particular, like cards by a certain artist or the last in a series, spend some time searching the Internet first (if you don’t already do that regularly). If what you want is available online, you can do some comparison shopping.

3. If you have a small collection or a small series to complete, consider filing these cards in a pocket photo album and bringing it along with you. That way, you can make sure that your new purchases are indeed new to you or fit your collection. There’s rarely reason to duplicate cards or buy the wrong ones.

4. If you have identification guides, try to find the time to flip through them or bring them along, so you can remind yourself of different series, styles, and features that make some postcards worth more than others.

5. Plan to spend a few hours (or more) at the postcard sale. You probably won’t look through all of the hundreds of thousands of cards for sale, but if you stop at each dealer and look through each category you’re interested in, you could be there for a long while.

6. Remember to ask each dealer about the topics that you’re interested in. In addition, ask if the subjects you want might be filed under related categories. Each dealer knows his or her filing system better than anyone else, so they can direct you to the boxes that are most likely to have something you’ll like.

7. In addition, ask each dealer if he or she specializes in any particular subjects or has a particularly large number of a certain category. Sometimes dealers are drawn to specific topics, have access to certain postcards in their area, or recently acquired a particular collection. Knowing this will often allow you to choose from some special cards or ones that are scarce in your area.

8. If you think you’re finished at a booth, take the time to browse through the category cards and consider what similar subjects there are (or discover some new ones). Chances are a category or two will surprise you.

9. If you find a lot of postcards you like from one dealer, but know you really shouldn’t buy them all, find an area in the booth to spread out your choices and compare them to each other. Seeing them side by side often makes it easy to determine which ones you simply can’t live without.

10. If enough postcards have caught your eye in one booth, and you have a nice stack, ask the dealer if he or she can give you a bulk discount of sorts. When it comes to antiquing, we all believe in the more the merrier.

11. If a booth has some cards that are your second choices, write down which dealer, which category, and which cards have tempted you. Then, after making the rounds, and if you still have time and money left, swing back to the ones you left behind earlier. With your notes, you’ll be able to find them quickly and easily.

12. Most important, talk to the dealers. Ask about their interests and their suggestions. Listen to what they have to say about the artistry, style, or history of the postcards you’re interested in. The dealers are experts and can be a wealth of information to us.

Well, I think I’ve managed to talk myself into going to the postcard show (as if I needed to do that).

Of course, I’m planning to go, even though I’m still a beginner in this field and my postcard collection is still minuscule by most standards—all the more reason to go to the show, right?

I have to admit that I’d love to find more postcards with classic renditions of roses and some with handsome portraits of dogs as well as a few more pastel Easter cards and then a few more Christmas cards in red and green and maybe even some…

Hopefully, I’ll raise my head from the boxes of postcards long enough to see you there.

The show and sale is being held tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 21, at Perinton’s James E. Smith Community Center, 1350 Turk Hill Road, Fairport.

Admission is $3 a person, but free for members, so you should probably think about joining the club. For more information, visit the club’s website at www.WNYPostcardClub.com.

Patti
The Committed Collector

So will we see you there? Is ephemera a category of collecting that interests you? Do you appreciate graphic arts or the nostalgic sentiments of snail mail? If so, please leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.