Does Pre-war mean pre-1939?

[GasHouseGang]

Well, the name of this forum is "WWII & Older", not "prewar". If you say postwar is after 1945, and prewar is before 1939, you're leaving a hole of six years where cards wouldn't be included in either group. I think WWII & Older is a better definition of what is really intended.

[conor912]

I've always considered '48 as the beginning of post war cards, but there's obviously 10 different takes for every 10 guys you ask....

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by conor912

I've always considered '48 as the beginning of post war cards, but there's obviously 10 different takes for every 10 guys you ask....

I do too, although technically not sure. What about poor R302-1 (M.P & Co. 1943)? They got nowhere to go

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Paul S

I do too, although technically not sure. What about poor R302-1 (M.P & Co. 1943)? They got nowhere to go

casualty of the war. c'est la guerre.

[VoodooChild]

Here's how I classify/define eras for my own purposes:

1900-1941 - Pre-War or Pre-WWII era
1942-1947 - Obscure era
1948-1980 - Vintage era
1981-1986 - Pre-Junk Wax or Rookie Card Craze era
1987-1996 - Junk Wax era
1997-Present - Modern era

[vintagerookies51]

I’m with those who have said pre-war is during the war or earlier, and post-war being 1946 or later. To be honest I thought that was pretty well accepted

[h2oya311]

I think someone else here nailed it. We call things "post war" (essentially anything issued 1946 and later). Everything else is "pre-war" because there is no category called "war". There is certainly a gray area for cards issued between late 1941 and 1945 during the US involvement in the war. But then again, there weren't all that many cards issued during that time ('42 to '45), so I don't really care how you categorize them, but every card needs to fit somewhere, right?

For those going on a limb and stating that you wouldn't consider a card issued in 1940 or 1941 as "pre war", then what might you call them??? Certainly not "post war". Do you call those "vintage"? Each card needs a category. Please explain the cut-off.

[CobbSpikedMe]

I always considered prewar to be 1941 and earlier and anything after I considered postwar. I never thought of postwar as 1948 and later. It was 1942 or later for me. So MP&Co. was always considered postwar.

As a side note, Anson, the creator of prewarcards.com is a board member so maybe he will chime in at some point as well.

Also, not that it's an authority or not, but eBay has the Pre-1942 search option as well. So that agrees with the 1941 and earlier as being prewar.

[Rookiemonster]

It’s always been a vague way of saying it to me. Like what war? Vietnam? The gulf war? I would call anything before Vietnam vintage.


I don’t really see why we have pre war and post war.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

Well, the name of this forum is "WWII & Older", not "prewar". If you say postwar is after 1945, and prewar is before 1939, you're leaving a hole of six years where cards wouldn't be included in either group. I think WWII & Older is a better definition of what is really intended.

I/we did too. It made more sense.
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