My own fascination with vintage postcards began about forty years ago when my grandmother gave me her own small collection of cards sent to her by my grandfather from Active Service in World War One. I knew nothing about postcards then, but from that small bundle began one of the most exciting areas of my life, as a collector and dealer in these popular collectibles.
Postcards, in the early 1900s ranking as THE most popular collectible, today rank third, behind coins and stamps. They're not the bits of worthless paper many people imagine, in fact some amazing prices can be fetched for postcards, notably on eBay, where items typically catalogued £1 tops can fetch double figure, sometimes three figure sums.
Years ago, before eBay opened a global market for dealers of all manner of goods and services, most postcards were sold at collectors' fairs and specialist postcard events, flea markets and antiques fairs, through postcard collectors' magazines, sometimes on approval, in the same way that stamps and coins have been sold for decades.
It's history now but, believe me, in pre-eBay times, a seller knew almost exactly how much to charge for a postcard, topographical or non-topographical. You'd consult the catalogue, pencil the price on the back of the card, amend it upwards or down depending on condition and other special factors.
For several reasons, some topographical postcards (sometimes called 'view cards' and depicting places as opposed to subjects) fetched higher prices in one geographical area than in another, such as a street scene of Horden Colliery in County Durham which will invariably attract far more eager buyers at events in the north of England than elsewhere in the UK and certainly more so than in other countries. So a great business was enjoyed by many, myself included, who travelled the country looking for vintage view postcards gathering dust outside their area of origin which sold like hot cakes when they arrived back home.
Today things are very, very different. On the down side, it's more difficult now to find cards gathering the proverbial dust the way they once did; on the plus side those of us who once earned a few pounds on every postcard sold are oftentimes reaching profits of $10, $50, $60, one hundred dollars each, or more.
In my eBay experience THE best money makers look very ordinary, they may even be damaged, stamp removed, but what makes these cards potentially the most collectable and pricey of all is merely that two or more people want the card and they are ready to bid high to win it.
Think about it this way, when cards were sold at local fairs where just a few hundred people attended each time, you never faced a fight over cards, it just didn't happen, the visitors were too few and specialist collectors were extremely rare.
Today, on eBay, millions of people worldwide will see your postcards, bidding wars are frequent, even for what seem to be common and all but worthless postcards.
Avril Harper is an eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.sellpostcardsonebay.com and MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.magstoriches.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at www.avrilharper.com
