postcard writing affect grade
 

Just wondering if a team photo postcard that has been used affect the grade? If so is there a certain grade restriction? By used I mean written on...thanks

I don't know why anyone has postcards graded other than for aesthetic reasons. As far as I know there are no postcard collectors out there playing the registry game.

As far as writing on postcards goes, I prefer postcards to be used. It puts a date to them and sometimes tells a great story.

That's almost exactly how I view it.

I'm not all that interested in condition, other than maybe a card fitting maybe 4 categories. Really nice, nice, worn and awful.
And used cards with interesting content or a better stamp or cancel is a huge plus.

My brother collects West Point postcards, and I've paid extra for ones with messages from cadets instead of tourists.

I also picked up a very average postcard of somewhere In the Caribbean, I forget exactly where. The message involved "rocky" and was signed by someone named "Happy" I had a hunch and bought it out of a dollar box. A bit of research, like maybe 15 minutes made it almost positive that it was Happy Rockefeller sending a friend a card while on their honeymoon. Right names, right location, right date, and the recipient knew her- I'll go with that as convincing.

Without the message it's just another crummy card of island scenery.

Steve B

I prefer mailed pc's also. Never seen one graded higher than 1.5.

Yep to all of that...I always look at the messages on postcards. I purchased a lot of postcards at an estate sale a year or so back and noticed that all of them (about 25-30) were signed by the same man who seemed to be doing a lot of traveling and sending postcards home to his wife and kids...I also found it odd that he was signing his full name to them. I googled his name "Charles M. Sheldon" and found that he was the originator of the phrase "What would Jesus do?". That just made the small collection that much more interesting to me.

And it's definitely the "famous" Charles M. Sheldon...cards were sent to Topeka, and his daughter was named Merriam which was also his wife's maiden name.

http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/charl...-sheldon/12201

I like the Wagneresque 'S' in his last name.

Writing = fair or poor with the slabbers. For PC collectors it is more or less irrelevant on RPPCs and rare cards but does affect value on more common items where ummarked versions are readily found. I like postmarks on RPPCs and other obscure issues to establish dates, like this 1954 Ed Mathews:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...0Ed_%20Ted.jpg