Author Topic: The Postcard Thread  (Read 503508 times)

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PB

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #675 on: January 12, 2019, 03:14:54 PM »
... a bidding war with someone else who wants the card.  Usually, if I really want a particular postcard, I will put a maximum bid on it...

Jeeze, sounds I should sell my postcards. 

I've got old ones issued by the post office (used and unused), all the ones I received in the mail when I was a kid, and a huge stack of old ones I found at a garage sale.

Two that are memorable are the Hughes Airwest postcard from my first airplane ride, and one featuring the swimming pool area of my first apartment in Berkeley fresh out of college.  Some interesting ones are a handful issued by provincial post offices during the Raj era that I bought in India.  Quite a few of the ones from the garage sale feature various holidays

I'd have to pull it out and look at it again, something like this..

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Rikki Gins

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #676 on: January 12, 2019, 05:16:47 PM »
Jeeze, sounds I should sell my postcards. 

I've got old ones issued by the post office (used and unused), all the ones I received in the mail when I was a kid, and a huge stack of old ones I found at a garage sale.

Two that are memorable are the Hughes Airwest postcard from my first airplane ride, and one featuring the swimming pool area of my first apartment in Berkeley fresh out of college.  Some interesting ones are a handful issued by provincial post offices during the Raj era that I bought in India.  Quite a few of the ones from the garage sale feature various holidays

I'd have to pull it out and look at it again, something like this..

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Nice.  I'd like to see the swimming pool area from your first apartment.

Rikki Gins

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #677 on: January 12, 2019, 06:30:45 PM »
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Have you ever seen such long rows of tables?

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Hackney's was established back in 1912 and managed to thrive until it burned down in 1963.  It was actually rebuilt and lasted for twenty plus more years but it eventually closed due to newer government regulations and whatnot.  Comedian Jerry Lewis liked to dine there.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Hackneys-Restaurant-130108723723325/reviews/?referrer=page_recommendations_see_all&ref=page_internal

Here are some other postcards that show Hackney's:

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PB

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #678 on: January 12, 2019, 08:33:27 PM »
Nice.  I'd like to see the swimming pool area from your first apartment.

Just a block from the Berkeley campus, there were quite a few students living here.  Probably from experience, the manager wasted no time collecting checks, lease agreements, etc

There postcards must have been printed up when the building was new, and they must have had quite a stack of them.  When I moved in, these swimming suits were well out of fashion, perhaps someone has an idea of when this would have been taken based on the clothing and hair styles?

Berkeley HS can be seen over the fence and across the street to the left


PB

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #679 on: January 12, 2019, 08:47:50 PM »
Nice.  I'd like to see the swimming pool area from your first apartment.

Geez Rik, I pulled out those garage sale postcards and there was a whole shoe box full I never even looked at before (there are so many that after awhile I get numb from looking at them).  It seems like she collected any and all - several themes are whimsical holiday cards, scenery (lots of waterfalls), hotels, office buildings, historic moments, 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo, 1904 St Louis World's Fair, cartoon ones with various themes, birth announcements.  There are cards from London, Paris, Rome, Spain, India, churches, paintings, advertising, coronations, infrastructure, there is a series with photos of bullfights from Gibraltar, a handful from the Winchester Mystery House before 1906 earthquake damage, on and on... it seems endless.  There are even a few of the comic style drawn ones featuring cats and their antics, so I guess fascination with cats has been around for awhile. 

They seem mostly from around 1900 to just after WWII, but mostly from those earlier years, say, 1900 to 1920. 
Quite a few don't have the stamp, and a lot of them are tattered or even cut along the edges.  Most are in decent shape though.  Are those sorts of blemishes common for older ones?

Rikki Gins

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #680 on: January 12, 2019, 11:50:27 PM »
Geez Rik, I pulled out those garage sale postcards and there was a whole shoe box full I never even looked at before (there are so many that after awhile I get numb from looking at them).  It seems like she collected any and all - several themes are whimsical holiday cards, scenery (lots of waterfalls), hotels, office buildings, historic moments, 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo, 1904 St Louis World's Fair, cartoon ones with various themes, birth announcements.  There are cards from London, Paris, Rome, Spain, India, churches, paintings, advertising, coronations, infrastructure, there is a series with photos of bullfights from Gibraltar, a handful from the Winchester Mystery House before 1906 earthquake damage, on and on... it seems endless.  There are even a few of the comic style drawn ones featuring cats and their antics, so I guess fascination with cats has been around for awhile. 

They seem mostly from around 1900 to just after WWII, but mostly from those earlier years, say, 1900 to 1920. 
Quite a few don't have the stamp, and a lot of them are tattered or even cut along the edges.  Most are in decent shape though.  Are those sorts of blemishes common for older ones?

It sounds like you have a wonderful, ready made postcard collection there, PB.  You are so lucky to find a shoe box full of really old postcards.  I have looked at hundreds of postcards in flea markets and antique shops and they are mostly cards from the 1950's to 1970's.  Scenery, nature, parks and mountains mostly, that kind of stuff.  But those Winchester Mystery House cards, the 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo's and the 1904 St Louis World's Fair cards, now those might be worth something. 

You know, I don't think collectors really mind if the postcards are unused, and therefore don't have stamps on them.  A lot of the vintage restaurant cards that I bid on have never been sent through the mail, though I prefer the ones that have been post-ally used.  I don't like it (and I know you don't either) when people remove stamps from used postcards. 

I'm guessing that postcard collectors probably wouldn't buy cards that have been cut back, but a wrinkle here and there and even small stains might be ok with them if they like the subject matter enough.  Every once in a great while I will purchase a card from an antique shop and they usually have penciled prices written on them.  When I go to post them I will erase the prices before putting them in the scanner, haha.

I have been gradually putting my postcards into a binder, like those big ones at Staples.  There are postcard storage pages that you can buy online, that hold four cards per page.  (Eight if you put them back to back.)  I kind of like to look at them that way, rather than pulling them out of the box.  Food for thought, though it might be quite an undertaking for you, given the great amount of cards that you acquired.   

By the way, I really dig that pool postcard.  Those two ladies to the left have definite 1965-1966 hairstyles.


   

PB

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #681 on: January 13, 2019, 11:05:36 AM »
It sounds like you have a wonderful, ready made postcard collection there, PB.  You are so lucky to find a shoe box full of really old postcards.  I have looked at hundreds of postcards in flea markets and antique shops and they are mostly cards from the 1950's to 1970's.  Scenery, nature, parks and mountains mostly, that kind of stuff.  But those Winchester Mystery House cards, the 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo's and the 1904 St Louis World's Fair cards, now those might be worth something. 

You know, I don't think collectors really mind if the postcards are unused, and therefore don't have stamps on them.  A lot of the vintage restaurant cards that I bid on have never been sent through the mail, though I prefer the ones that have been post-ally used.  I don't like it (and I know you don't either) when people remove stamps from used postcards. 

I'm guessing that postcard collectors probably wouldn't buy cards that have been cut back, but a wrinkle here and there and even small stains might be ok with them if they like the subject matter enough.  Every once in a great while I will purchase a card from an antique shop and they usually have penciled prices written on them.  When I go to post them I will erase the prices before putting them in the scanner, haha.

I have been gradually putting my postcards into a binder, like those big ones at Staples.  There are postcard storage pages that you can buy online, that hold four cards per page.  (Eight if you put them back to back.)  I kind of like to look at them that way, rather than pulling them out of the box.  Food for thought, though it might be quite an undertaking for you, given the great amount of cards that you acquired.   

By the way, I really dig that pool postcard.  Those two ladies to the left have definite 1965-1966 hairstyles.

That's what I thought about the post cards that have parts of the edges cut off.  Some of the others the condition is more than just a wrinkle, rounded corners, or small stains.  I've seen this before with other collections (comics, cards, books, etc) where condition and keeping them in condition wasn't a consideration.  Others are pristine, ad even have their own plastic covers.

Some weren't used, but quite a few of the ones that had been used no longer have the stamps.  That really sucks, the stamp and postmark are an integral part of the card. 

But most of them are in better shape than that.  Quite a few were mailed to a certain lady in Oakland, so I figure this was her collection.  Some have the penciled prices on them, as if they'd been in an antique store - anywhere from 50c to over $10. 

They came in one shoe box plus loose cards that would probably be another couple of shoe boxes.  When I got them I looked at the loose ones, and put the ones in the shoe box aside for later and didn't get to them.


Although I have the ones I received from my grandparents, etc, as a kid, and do buy some as lightweight, inexpensive souvenirs, I'm not really a collector.  I used to collect stamps, and know a lot more about them.  The reason I bought these is because a) they're cool, b) I didn't want them to be thrown out if no one bought them, c) the whole pile was pretty cheap (I don't remember, but it wouldn't have been more than $20-30, and d) I thought there might be some old stamps or cards themselves that had some value. 

There are so many of these to look at that I didn't really pay much attention to the stamps, other than see whether they were attached, and that most were the common 2c or so variety.  Some of the foreign ones still have the foreign stamps, although a lot of those are unused.

One stamp I do recall is the 2c from the 1892 set commemorating the 500 year anniversary of the Columbus expedition.  These were interesting - oversized, each with a different scene

One eerie thing are the European scene from before WWI, knowing most of it was obliterated, o what was in store for the people with happy smiling faces.

Living in Oakland, it's perhaps weighted to Bay Area, California, and West Coast subject matter, but really there seems to be a bit of everything.  I probably should categorize them, then decide which ones to keep. 


PB

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #682 on: January 13, 2019, 11:12:57 AM »
...  A lot of the vintage restaurant cards that I bid on have never been sent through the mail, though I prefer the ones that have been post-ally used.  I don't like it (and I know you don't either) when people remove stamps from used postcards...

By the way, I really dig that pool postcard.  Those two ladies to the left have definite 1965-1966 hairstyles.

Thanks for dating the postcard for me, I've wondered when the photo was taken and figured the clothes and hairstyles should be a dead giveaway.

Regarding subject matter, how did you come to be interested in vintage restaurants?  Your interest and enthusiasm really comes through in your posts and makes for great reading. 

PB

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #683 on: January 13, 2019, 11:18:11 AM »
PS, the 1892 Columbus stamp series (ranging from 1c to $5) are considered the first commemorative stamps issued.

This is the 2c stamp in that series from one of the post cards


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Rikki Gins

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #684 on: January 14, 2019, 06:02:23 PM »
Thanks for dating the postcard for me, I've wondered when the photo was taken and figured the clothes and hairstyles should be a dead giveaway.

Regarding subject matter, how did you come to be interested in vintage restaurants?  Your interest and enthusiasm really comes through in your posts and makes for great reading.

You know, if I have a reason for liking vintage restaurant postcards I guess that it would be due to the research challenges that they carry.  I like to look them up and see if they are still there, or if any biographical information can be found regarding the owners or hosts.  Also, I don't go to restaurants anymore so it is kind of fun to fantasize about going to them and ordering anything and everything that I would want to eat and drink.  Speaking of restaurant postcards, here is another one in your neck of the woods...The Hotel St. Francis on Union Square in San Francisco.  I went on their website (I guess they call themselves The Westin now) and noticed that the Grand Ballroom is still there, though it has probably been remodeled since the postcard pic was taken.
Westin website: https://www.westinstfrancis.com/

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Rikki Gins

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #685 on: January 15, 2019, 06:03:27 PM »
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I visited this mission once a long time ago and I can't remember if I saw any swallows flying around.  I remember going into a chapel with hundreds of candles burning and later on, walking down a very ancient pathway outside.  Also, I recall how the sunlight radiated into my neck and arms without being overly hot and how the air itself had such a remarkable, high oxygen content to it.   

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Rikki Gins

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #686 on: January 16, 2019, 11:32:18 PM »
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Of course everyone at rest in a cemetery is special and should never be forgotten.  But Find-A-Grave lists two politicians as being famous.  One a Democrat and the other a Republican.
Paul Gerhart Hatfield: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6323449/paul-gerhart-hatfield
Marion E. Hay: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6885982/marion-e_-hay

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The postcard was written and mailed on December 3, 1947.  According to Wiki, the following happened on that day:
Quote
16 were killed and about 30 injured in a train derailment in Arras, France. Authorities reported that the disaster was an act of sabotage and accused communists of being responsible in the midst of the country's ongoing labor strife.

The Motion Picture Association of America voted for stronger regulations to prevent glorification of crime on the screen, while the Screen Directors Guild barred communists from holding office.

The Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire starring Jessica Tandy and rising star Marlon Brando premiered at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway.

Rikki Gins

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #687 on: January 17, 2019, 08:50:45 PM »
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A French pinup lady from Paris.

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It's funny because there was a twenty dollar amount pencilled on a corner of this postcard before I erased it, but I never pay more than three or four dollars for rare postcards.  In this case, I got three pinup themed cards for one lump sum of four dollars.


albrecht

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #688 on: January 17, 2019, 09:47:44 PM »
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A French pinup lady from Paris.

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It's funny because there was a twenty dollar amount pencilled on a corner of this postcard before I erased it, but I never pay more than three or four dollars for rare postcards.  In this case, I got three pinup themed cards for one lump sum of four dollars.

Wonder about her pricing back then? That would seem, not that I have prurient interests in her, a lot of money in real terms.

Rikki Gins

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Re: The Postcard Thread
« Reply #689 on: January 18, 2019, 10:35:18 PM »
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Bat Masterson biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Masterson

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Another Bat Masterson postcard.