Apr 15, 2006 By Glenn Tunney For The 9 min read

How did World War I change the way picture postcards were made? How could a glance at the blank back of a postcard reveal its age? Harold Richardson, 81, of Brownsville, who has been collecting historic picture postcards of the Brownsville area for four decades, showed me what to look for when determining the age of a picture postcard.

“There are clues in the picture, clues on the card’s back, and clues in the texture of the paper and the printing process used,” Harold told me. “Let’s start with the picture.

“If you know the date of significant events in the town’s history, you can often estimate the age of a picture postcard. For example, around 1903 the Monongahela Railroad built a short concrete bridge (which is still there) over the mouth of Dunlap Creek in Brownsville, near the present wharf. About one hundred yards upstream at that time was the old wooden covered bridge, which spanned the Monongahela River and was torn down in 1910. On some picture postcards, both bridges can be seen in the picture. That tells you that the picture was taken between 1903 to 1910, and that the postcard was probably published during that period.

“Automobiles in a picture can provide clues too. If an automobile is shown in a street scene, and if you are familiar with the appearance of the different automobile models through the years, you can conclude that the image on the card was produced no earlier than the model year of the automobile that is in the picture. The same is true if a picture shows streetcar tracks, telegraph or telephone lines, horses pulling wagons, buildings that were later destroyed, etc. All of these are clues. Most postcard companies tried to keep the images on their cards up-to-date, so the year depicted in the card’s image is probably close to the year the postcard was printed.”

“Clues in the picture would be discernable to anyone knowledgeable about local history,” I said, “even to a non-postcard collector. But I imagine there are clues on a postcard that only a collector would be likely to perceive.”

“One clue is on the back of the card,” Harold said. “Cards with undivided backs were made in a particular era. When I say an undivided back, I mean there is no vertical line down the center on the back of the card. On a modern card, the address goes to the right of that line and the message to the left.”

“And it wasn’t always that way?”

“No. Postcards with a plain, undivided back were made from 1901-1907. A picture postcard with a divided back would have been produced after 1907.”

“On a picture postcard with an undivided back, the post office did not allow anything to be written on the entire blank side of the card except the address – no message at all. So postcard companies left a small white area on the front of the card, either next to the picture or below it, where you could jot a brief message.”

Harold selected a card from his collection.

“Here is another clue to a card’s age. This is a postcard from the Linen Era,” he said. “The paper the picture is printed on has a linen texture. The colors are vivid, and the image has a shadowless, air-brushed appearance. This type of postcard was produced from the 1920s until around 1960 when ‘chrome’ cards became popular, a term that originated with Kodak’s Kodachrome film. Chrome cards, which is the type that are sold today, have glossy color pictures and were the first color postcards produced from color film and printed with the halftone process.”

“So until 1960, all color postcards were linen-textured?”

“No, it’s not that simple. Prior to World War I, color postcards were printed in Germany, because they had a better color process there. Unfortunately, World War I against Germany ended the availability of German manufacturers. After the war, the linen-textured process was developed in the United States. If you see a postcard that says ‘Made in Germany’ on it, as many do, it is probably pre-World War I.”

“So when looking for clues to a postcard’s age,” I summarized, “you can study the details in the picture, note whether the back is divided or undivided, and consider the process used to print the picture. And of course, if the card was actually mailed, there should be a postmark on it.”

“That’s right. However, that clue is often missing, because many of the cards in most collections were never mailed.”

“Let’s talk about how postcards are collected,” I said. “Where does someone go to purchase historic postcards of Brownsville or other local communities?”

“When I began collecting 40 years ago, I was buying them at estate sales and flea markets. Then I learned that there were large postcard shows held in various cities, so I went to shows in Pittsburgh, Johnstown, Greensburg, even in Ohio.

“While going to these shows, I met a postcard dealer from Girard, Ohio. We traded cards often and got to trust each other. When I would buy an entire postcard collection at an estate sale or auction, it would often include some cards with pictures of areas that I was not interested in, but that I knew he might be interested in. So I would trade those cards to him for cards that I was interested in.

“We got to the point that if he came across any cards related to my interests, he would put them aside, and when I would see him at a postcard show, we would trade cards. Consequently, I got a lot of cards by trading for them at considerably less expense than if I had purchased them.”

“What type of venue hosts these shows?”

“The shows are usually held in large halls such as convention centers, because there are quite a few dealers who attend. Dealers may be from Texas, Chicago, all over the country, and they are all doing two things. They are selling cards, and they are also looking for cards that they want to buy, because they are collectors too.”

“Are there other ways to acquire historic postcards besides buying them at shows, auctions, estate sales, or flea markets?”

“As you become more educated in this, you become familiar with several trade magazines. One is called Postcard Collector magazine. It contains articles on postcard collecting, and it publishes private ads placed by collectors who want to buy or sell particular cards.”

“It sounds a bit risky to buy a postcard sight unseen.”

Harold nodded. “I never bought many postcards that way, because the seller and potential buyer may have a different opinion of the quality of a postcard. I myself prefer a card that is not bent, has no turned edges, and is as clean as possible. Of course, what you will accept in terms of a card’s condition depends upon how rare or old it is.”

“Do the advertisers go into great detail about the card’s condition?”

“Not particularly. The problem with going into detail when advertising a card in a national magazine is that it would not be cost effective unless the card was of exceptional value. You would pay more for the ad than the card could bring in and still have no assurance that someone will purchase it.”

“Is the value of a card affected by whether it was written on or mailed?”

“In most cases, you want to collect cards of the topics you specialize in, whether or not they have been written on or postmarked. A card’s condition is more important. Of course, cards that have not gone through the mail are usually in better condition than those that were mailed.”

“Many of the postcards in your collection have the asking price written on them in pencil. Is there much haggling over price at a postcard show?”

“Well, naturally the asking prices are inflated.”

“Are they ridiculously higher than they should be?”

Harold laughed and said, “They are getting that way any more!”

“So if a seller had $10 written on a card, he might settle for $5?”

“No, he wouldn’t go that low. He might settle for $7 or $8, depending on how many cards you buy. If you buy just one card, you’ll probably buy that card for $9, but if you buy 10 cards, he’s liable to sell you that card for $7.”

“Is this how these dealers make a living? Or is it a sideline for them?”

“In most cases, it’s a sideline. Some of them are retirees who have collected for years and have gotten to the point where they want to sell their cards, or they have accumulated extras they would like to sell.”

“Do you still go to the shows or purchase postcards in other ways?”

“I don’t go to the shows anymore. I don’t think I would find many postcards on Brownsville that I don’t already have. Of course, there are always things you might want to add to improve your collection, but I have gotten to the point where I don’t buy collections anymore, I don’t go to the shows, and I don’t subscribe to the magazines.”

“But if someone showed up with a Brownsville-related postcard you hadn’t seen before, you’d buy it.”

Harold smiled and replied, “Yes.”

One type of postcard that we have not mentioned is the Real Photo card, an actual photograph that is developed and printed by the photographer on postcard-size developing paper which is imprinted with a “postcard back.” These photos could be personal photos or portraits printed in very limited quantities, perhaps even just a single card. Consequently, Real Photo cards often had more intriguing images of everyday life than the mass-produced postcards that only depicted a town’s primary buildings and streets.

Next week, we will take a look at these Real Photo cards, including Harold Richardson’s innovative attempt to produce postcards from the historic photographs in his own collection.

Glenn Tunney may be contacted at 724-785-3201 or 6068 National Pike East, Grindstone, PA 15442. Comments about these weekly articles may be sent to Editor Mark O’Keefe, 8-18 E. Church St., Uniontown, PA or e-mailed to mo’keefe@heraldstandard.com. All past articles are on the Web at http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~glenntunneycolumn/