Umm... Picture Postcards?

I just received a lot of 500+ picture postcards. Yes, picture postcards.

Normally I just pass over material like that, as I'm not interested in them in the least... but this lot was a bit different. It is worldwide from approximately 1900 to 1955. What piqued my curiosity was this in the description:

"these were collected by a stamp collector and I belive all saved for the backside of the card as a postal history cover"

Postcards collected by a STAMP collector puts them in a different light, and based on the 10 or so pictures, it looked like it could have all sorts of fun stuff in it.

And I was right. Paquebot cancels, hotel cancels, stampless military free franks, various auxilary markings, and just interesting cancels as well (some seemingly ordinary stuff too, but I've not given any of it a close examination). None of the stamps themselves look to be worth much in and of themselves, but when it comes to postal history, the stamp itelf is usually negligible.

Here are the original seller pics. No one else must have really explored the listing, as I ended up being the only bidder.

The research will be interesting!

Interesting lot!

Can you keep us posted (pun intended) of your research?

Looks like a great lot to sort through revenuecollector, will take some time but should be well worth it. I recently bought a similar lot from my local auction house for £5 plus commission, and there are some interesting bits in there as well, and I haven't even looked at them all yet. I have found that collections in postcard albums sell for really big money over here, but cards just "filed" in a box can be a great source of postmarks, slogans and more, and sell a lot cheaper!
DavidR

I enjoy USED postcards for the postal history too. I like the snapshot in time that it gives. The photos and drawings show what was popular and what was important to people. They write trite things about their vacations or mundane things about their lives just as we do today, but it's a genuine look at the people and the times.

revenuecollector, I would love to be looking through that box you got!

Karen