POSTCARDS

Old postcards
for sale

Alte Ansichtkarten
zu verkaufen

Cartes postales anciennes
à vendre

Venta de tarjetas postales antiguas

Stamps and marks on covers and postcards
Various stamps and marks on envelopes and cards

First UK Aerial Post, 1911

Merano, Italy, 1902.
Merano, Italy, 1902

Zeppelin IV, Lunéville, France, 1913	Buckingham Palace, London, 1902
Heidelberg, Germany, 1903	King Edward VII visits Liverpool, 1904

Dave's tips People often ask what is meant by 'RP'. RP means Real Photographic. The difference between a Real Photographic postcard (RPPC) and a printed one (made up of dots), is easily seen under magnification - as I have illustrated below (New Brighton Lighthouse). A small 10x magnifier (which folds up, and can be kept with you while visiting fairs, antique shops etc) can be bought from any good stamp accessories supplier or camera shop (a couple of examples of magnifiers are shown below). A Real Photo postcard can either have a glossy or matt surface.
Real Photo, or 'RP'	Printed
Chromolithograph Chromo-Litho cards are neither of the above but are high quality cards printed by a method that layers down solid colours, the design being first etched onto a limestone block, different stones (as many as 15!) were used for each colour. Again, these can easily be distinguished under magnification, as seen at right. These are mostly pre-WWI and printed in 'Old Germany', e.g. Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia etc. For even greater magnification of a Chromo card see the da Vinci card above on this page. Photogravure is a method whereby a photographic image is etched onto a copper plate and printed from that. Under magnification they appear as very fine dots (much finer than screen printed, shown above right). It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between photogravure & RP without a magnifier.	Chromo-Litho
	< 2 different magnifiers that I use. The top one is called a 'lupe' and is available from most camera shops, this one has the added advantage that the plastic dome captures light from all around. The lower one is a folding lens, which can be carried around easily in a pocket - available from many sources including stamp accessory suppliers. 10x magnification is sufficient for postcards.
Did you know? Lighter fuel (highly refined petrol) removes finger prints and dirt from glossy RPs. A soft pencil rubber usually removes postal ink from shiny postcard fronts. 'Clear Face Bags' - a much cheaper way of protecting postcards than PVC pockets - from stamp accessory suppliers. 6" x 4" size are about £16.00 per 1000. Fruit trays (free from supermarkets!) are made from very light, very strong, cardboard. Ideal for mailing postcards. I cut the bases into 6" x 4" pieces using a bandsaw. Great for storing cards too as they can be stacked. Stamps - a knowledge of issuing dates (along with postage rates) helps identify date of posting if the postmark is unclear.

Can't find that postcard location? Try these:

Wales Gazetteer (opens in new window)
GENUKI Gazetteer UK (opens in new window)
Google Maps World Gazetteer (opens in new window)
World Gazetteer (opens in new window)

Or date, if postmark is unclear:

UK postcard rates (opens in new window)

Useful books

Catalogue of Picture Postcard Artists Peter James ISBN 0 9519972 1 1	Picture Postcards and their Publishers Anthony Byatt ISBN 0 9506212 0 X
The Postcard Century: 2000 Cards and Their Messages, Tom Phillips, ISBN-13: 978-0500975909. Worth every penny!

Aspect Ratio If you see postcards for sale but are unsure of their size when looking at them on your computer screen, you can usually tell by the 'Aspect Ratio', i.e. the ratio between the width & height of the card. On the left below is a representation of a 'classic' size postcard (actual size approx 3.5" x 5.5"). On the right is a 'modern' card (actual size approx 6" x 4").
A 'classic' shape postcard	A 'modern' shape postcard

Moiré Patterns produced by a scanner = yellow bands on your pictures
If you find YELLOW BANDS appear while scanning some printed postcards, this is due to a printing method that produces these 'Moiré Patterns' when they are scanned (also happens when scanning pictures from magazines). To stop this happening try to find a 'Descreen' option in your scanner settings & scan with that activated - this will prevent the pattern appearing & also clear up other 'interference'. If you do not have a Descreen facility try scanning at twice the dpi that you want, blur the picture slightly, reduce to size you want by resizing & then sharpen - experiment, the results will be good enough for showing your pictures on eBay &c. You can find more technical information on this effect by using a search engine like Google & query = Moiré
Without 'Descreen', showing 'Moiré Patterns'	Same card, scanned using 'Descreen'


RP	= REAL PHOTO
(FR)	= PHOTO VERITABLE
(DE)	= ECHTE FOTOGRAFIE
(ES)	= FOTOGRAFIA AUTÉNTICA
(IT)	= VERA FOTOGRAFIA

VGC	= VERY GOOD CONDITION
(FR)	= TRÈS BON ÉTAT
(DE)	= SEHR GUTER ZUSTAND
(ES)	= EN BUENAS CONDICIONES
(IT)	= STATO MOLTO BUON

POSTCARD AUCTION RECORD
PAUL KLEE, Bauhaus school exhibition,
Weimar, Germany, 1923.

The above article is from Picture Postcard Monthly, February 2009
(used with permission)