Why are pre-war postcards suddenly so popular?

[Leon]

The only reason I can think of is that you started collecting them .

[tbob]

Originally Posted by Leon

The only reason I can think of is that you started collecting them .

LOL. For once, something has become popular and collectors going after something which I don't collect. I am tickled to death to see collectors going after them and spending their disposable income for something other than what I DO collect.
But seriously, no one thinks the fact that the grading companies have started slabbing and grading them has resulted in any increase in popularity?

[Bicem]

Depends on what time frame you're talking about Bob. The grading companies have been grading them for awhile now. It no doubt helps their popularity! But as for the more recent spike in popularity, I think Barry hit it on the head with the Legendary comment. That auction was epic in terms of postcards and the best I've seen in a very long time. I think it attracted a lot of new pc collectors.

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by tbob

LOL. For once, something has become popular and collectors going after something which I don't collect. I am tickled to death to see collectors going after them and spending their disposable income for something other than what I DO collect.
But seriously, no one thinks the fact that the grading companies have started slabbing and grading them has resulted in any increase in popularity?

I think you're correct, Bob, in saying professional grading has played a part. I also think it's pretty ironic, because a lot of postcard collectors I know don't pay much attention to the numbers on the flip. Postcards get hammered for writing on the back, but many collectors welcome correspondence on the cards, especially if it's baseball related.

I love finding great-looking postcards that are on the low end of the TPG scale.

[alanu]

It could be that the mail delivery is so slow that a lot of the pre-war postcards are just being delivered and becoming available. I shouldn't joke, my father was a mailman.

In addition to the grading, I think with some of the good prices being realized, some collectors holding on to them are starting to let them go.

We have collected rare pre-World War II baseball postcards for more than 25 years. Many of the wonderful examples in our collection are one of a kind.
We limit our effort to the rare, expensive and unusual- and only are interested in player and team photos- albeit we own four different Federal League stadium post cards- a great companion to our Federal League tickets, programs and sheet music.

We attribute the dramatic increase in popularity to

(a) Grading- if it's not graded it's difficult to obtain large money
(b) Recent Legendary as well as the Iowa Auction
(c) Availability of significant Negro League Hall of Famers
(d) Provides accomplished collectors with an additional opportunity.

We have over 30 such post cards in our collection. Since we recently obtained the two ultra, ultra rare Harrison Studios post cards we are focusing our efforts on the Winthrop Motion Picture Post cards (less than 8 are known)

We look forward to adding to America's most significant type card collection
in the days and months ahead.

Bruce Dorskind
AMerica's Toughest Want List
bdorskind@dorskindgroup.com

[ethicsprof]

I must say that the ones which team photos are very appealing to me.
I won a Hammon in an auction in the last year or so and was almost captured by the postcards in that moment. Thankfully, since i'm limiting myself to one card per type as a 'type' collector, i was able to distance myself from the seduction--
admittedly, there are sure a number of 'types' of gorgeous postcards which are doing their wooing.
best,
barry

I have to agree with TBob, the same thing happened in the comic book industry. I use to collect comics in high school and the same thing happened to silver and golden age comic books that has happened to prewar baseball cards. The prices have skyrocketed and many avenues of collecting prewar cards are just not open to me because of the prices. Now it is not fair for me to say that it is destroying the industry, but I do think there are people buying these cards and treating them like stock market investments instead of loving baseball and loving the hobby. The same thing happened to comic books in the 1990's when grading books exploded. It drove many comic fans out of the silver age and golden age book collecting game. I can tell you that in the mid 90's when I was in middle school you could buy a Uncanny X-Men #1 for about 150-200.00 dollars. Now one that looks like it was chewed up by a dog goes for about 500.00-750.00 depending on the auction. Just a thought.

TT

[benjulmag]

Vintage postcards have all the physical attributes of a baseball card -- size, distribution, photographic imagery of baseball subjects -- except the name. Collectors perhaps are beginning to recognize that some of these postcards exhibit gorgeous images of players/teams that are not available in a "conventional" baseball card. So, recognizing that substance matters more than form, collectors are bidding postcards up to values that reflect their intrinsic collecting significance.

[benjulmag]

Vintage postcards have all the attributes of a baseball card -- size, distribution, photographic imagery of baseball subjects -- except the name. Collectors perhaps are beginning to recognize that some of these postcards exhibit gorgeous images of players/teams that are not available in a "conventional" baseball card. So, recognizing that substance matters more than form, collectors are bidding postcards up to values that reflect their intrinsic collecting significance.

[benchod]

[QUOTE
(a) Grading- if it's not graded it's difficult to obtain large money
Bruce Dorskind
AMerica's Toughest Want List
bdorskind@dorskindgroup.com[/QUOTE]

That would be incorrect. Just ask Jeff P.

[Bicem]

grading shmading

[bh3443]

Bruce,
Thanks for sharing your expert opinion on this subject. Best wishes from us to you in adding these gems to your collection.

[Bicem]

postcards suck. let's get back to REAL cards people!

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by bh3443

Bruce,
Thanks for sharing your expert opinion on this subject. Best wishes from us to you in adding these gems to your collection.

I don't think Bruce won these (at least he didn't say he was the winner.)

[calvindog]

I think what Ricky says above makes sense: when you collect cards eventually you are led into Exhibits which certainly leads to PCs. The PCs are usually cheaper (or at least used to be) than regular cards so that helps as well. As of today I've got 30 Exhibits and PCs of Cobb, which is a big part of my Cobb collection.