postcards – The Committed Collector

Posted on January 26, 2019 by admin

Pictures, Postcards & Photographs

It’s a Saturday morning in Rochester, and the local shops are calling to me. How easy it would be to answer the summons and make the rounds of the thrift stores, antique shops, and retail outlets.

I know one of my favorite co-ops, The Shops on West Ridge, is having a sale today, and I recently heard about some markdowns on vintage merchandise at Henrietta Mall Antiques. One friend told me about all the treasures she found at Savers thrift store in Webster, and another collector says the Goodwill store in Brockport is the best in our area.

What’s more, I really do need a new purse—something functional yet stylish—so TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Stein Mart are on my mind, too, especially since they usually have great china and glassware.

So why am I resisting? Why am I at home gearing up to tackle one or two long overdue projects? Well, because they’re long overdue and because I’m being mindful of my resolution:

Collect less; curate more.

Among my overdue projects is framing a variety of pictures, postcards, and photographs that I have amassed over the years, and, unfortunately, amassed is the right word. It’s not unfortunate that I have lots and lots of artwork; it’s sad that I haven’t done as much as I intended with them.

I’ve become the keeper of the family photographs, so I must have thousands of photos. I’ve also been collecting postcards for a year or so and already have a few hundred—or more. Then, there’s my “art” collection. I love pictures and paintings, prints and posters, so I have dozens of them. Most of which, however, are lined up in closets.

In fact, I have an entire closet (albeit a small one) with two shelves filled with rows of vintage pictures and department store art and stacks of decades’ old calendars meant to be matted and framed.

Then there are the dresser drawers crowded with small photo albums filled with postcards, old and new, as well as numerous shoe boxes packed with all those family photos.

Now, however, it’s time I did something with these collections. Fortunately, Santa’s on my side.

This past Christmas, St. Nick gave me a handsome frame for the Hallmark poster celebrating 100 years of himself, which we’ve had since it was produced in 1992–1992! The poster is still under plastic, against its cardboard backing, so some years we simply propped it up, but other times, embarrassed to display an unframed poster, we left it in the closet and decorated without it.

Getting the Jolly Old Elf’s poster framed is first on my to-do list today. And when I have it framed, we might just decide to leave it up in a place of honor for the entire year because it depicts such beautiful antique images.

Santa also brought me a half-dozen mattes, in a lovely shade of sage-green, for my collection of Audubon-like bird pictures that I’ve always intended to hang along one side of the staircase. I previously bought frames for them, so getting the pictures up on the wall should be easy.

Along the opposite stairwell wall, I intend to hang some of our treasured family photos. Sepia-toned pictures of our grandparents have been waiting for decades and decades to take their rightful place in our home. Photos of our parents and our brothers and sisters and the next generations, too, also need to join the reunion in our personal gallery.

Sorting through the photos and albums and then choosing our favorites will take some time. Then finding the right mattes, frames, and layout will turn creating this gallery into a project, but that’s okay.

Since I’m focusing on curating the collections we already have, and then enjoying our treasures (rather than shopping for more), I should have plenty of time this year to make real progress.

Patti
The Committed Collector

How about you? Which collections do you need to organize and display? Which ones do you want to integrate more fully into your lives? We’d love to hear about your plans, so please leave a comment.

Posted on October 20, 2018 by admin

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.

Posted on October 13, 2018 by admin

Collecting Postcards

I don’t know how it took me so long to discover antique postcards as a collectible.

Both my father and grandfather were printers, so I was raised to appreciate printed materials. The artistry on postage stamps, paper money, and even sale ads were the kinds of things that Dad pointed out to me.

I loved the clip art in the grocery ads that Mom checked out each week. I knew the caricatures of bunnies and reindeer weren’t photos or paintings, but I couldn’t figure out what they were, artistically speaking. Nonetheless, I cut them out and glued them into a scrapbook just as my Victorian ancestors might have pasted trade cards into albums.

However, it wasn’t until I was nearly 30 that I discovered antique postcards. By then, I was fully committed to collecting china and glassware, but I still hadn’t noticed postcards at garage sales or flea markets. Ironically, I always bought postcards on my travels, but it didn’t occur to me that vintage ones existed, too.

Thankfully, a friend introduced me to the beauty and variety of antique postcards. We had planned an entire weekend of antiquing, and first on her agenda was the postcard show.

I had never been to a postcard sale before, so I didn’t know what to expect. My friend, however, brought enough cash and patience to keep us there for several hours.

She diligently stopped at each booth and asked about cats, horses, trains, and Halloween—the four categories that she and her husband collected. Then she pulled out a chair and sat down to look methodically through every one of these groups of cards. Then she changed chairs, so she could look through every card in every miscellaneous box.

At that point in my collecting “career,” I was used to walking from table to table and checking out a variety of wares. Sadly for us visual types, there often isn’t a lot to see at a postcard sale because the dealers organize their thousands of postcards in small cartons that look a lot like shoe boxes.

That means the sales tables all look pretty much alike—unless you take a seat and get comfortable. Then, there are wondrous sights to behold.

I only learned this after milling around for a couple of hours. Finally, and, I have to admit, out of boredom, I followed my friend’s lead and asked a dealer if any of the postcard might depict flowers, something I’ve always loved.

“Of course, there are cards with flowers,” he boomed. “What kind are you interested in,” he asked. “Bouquets? Gardens? Roses? Lilies? Or advertising cards—how about trade cards with pretty girls and bunches of posies?”

Initially overwhelmed by all the kinds of flowers I could consider on antique postcards, I blurted on the one that registered with me—roses. Mom loved roses; I loved roses, too, and I still do, so that was a fortuitous choice.

The dealer ushered me over to the box that had the “Flowers-Roses” tag and kindly pulled out a chair for me. Soon, I was lost in a rose bed of artistry.

Some antique cards had classically done renditions of lush, romantic roses. Vintage postcards had more stylized depictions of pink, red, and yellow blooms. Newer ones were made from color photos and showed the grandeur of places like the Hershey Rose Garden.

I was so engrossed that another hour or more went by as I decided if I preferred postcards with single blooms or full bouquets (both), pink roses or red ones (pinks), and just how many I should/could buy (more than I needed).

Eventually, it was my friend who was ready to leave and come looking for me.

She was buying for two (for herself and her husband), so she left with hundreds of postcards—and I mean hundreds. I might have left with only a dozen or so, but I had begun another collection—one that reflects all my father taught me about the artistry of printed materials.

Ever since, I’ve always managed to be selective and leave postcard shows with relatively few cards—even though I really don’t know why since I fully believe the more the merrier when it comes to collecting.

Perhaps next weekend when the local postcard show moves closer to town, I’ll finally become certifiable and leave with bags and bags of beautiful postcards.

I’ll be sure to try my best.

Patti
The Committed Collector

How about you? Do you like to pick up postcards as souvenirs of your travels? Are you among the few who actually send postcards to family and friends? If so, we’d love to hear from you—so please leave a comment.