Stamp And Postcard Question

Hello, I am a new member and need some advice. I received a box of about 350 postcards. Dates on the cards go from 1908-1940,s. Mostly 1 cent stamps. My question is this. If I list each card individually on e-bay with a photo of the front and back, will stamp collectors be viewing the listing?.....my fear is there may be a rare collectible stamp on a an average postcard. And if no one bids on the card it may get trashed or given away. Or should I list the card under both "postcard" and "stamps"? I know absolutely nothing about stamps or cards but I did look through the ebay sold listings and found some stamps which possibly could be collectible, but I don't have the knowledge to list the card under stamps, not knowing what to put for the listing.....any help would be greatly appreciated.

Phil

Generally, most one-cent stamps issued between 1908-1940 have minimal value.

Collectors would probably be most interested in specific themes such as:

(a) The postcard itself (postcard collectors) who have interest in specific postcard manufacturers, types of postcards (linen cards, photochrome, etc.);

(b) Topical collectors would have interest in specific subjects (i.e. trains, ships, vacation spots, or whatever); and

(c) Postmark and postal history collectors would be interested in the date and location shown on the postmark (especially if they show a discontinued post office (DPO) no longer in operation) and some of these collectors may also have interest in the content of the messages shown on the postcards, too.

Depending upon how many postcards you have, listing them individually could become a tremendous task for the minimal return they have on the secondary market. You may want to consider grouping certain postcards together to streamline things a bit.

There are some of the one-cent and two-cent Washington-Franklin stamps that were issued from 1908-1922 that are used on postcards during the time frame you have listed that do have some good catalogue values. Auxiliary markings, particular postmarks, and other factors can also add to collectability from a stamp collector's point of view. If you wish to list under stamps, view how other stamp dealers/sellers are listing post cards on E-Bay during the time frame that you have to get a feel for how to list them. There are some rarer stamps used during that time frame but Its probably a very long shot you would have any of them in your group--but then again, who knows. Good luck with them.

Many types of people including stamp collectors will be looking at your listings categorized as stamps and/or as postcards. I don't know current ebay fees for listing in a second category, but if it's around 10 cents each then it's probably worth it.

You can list your postcards in any section, including stamps, if you accurately describe it. If you don't know exactly what type of stamp it is, then describe it as "1c green Washington on postcard (PC) of NIFTY-PICTURE, mailed from LOCATION-X to LOCATION-Y." Including at least a brief description will help people find things that they are interested in while browsing or searching. Including keywords will help people find your listings.

The question of listing them individually or as groups depends on how much time you have.

It is unlikely, but possible that a stamp might be rare. To know for certain takes a lot of time and learning. You could take them to a stamp dealer or club to see if they might be willing to glance at each one to tell you which might be valuable. You could learn how to identify them if you find you have a lot of free time. You could list them with detailed pictures of the stamps so that buyers can decide for themselves If you go with the last option, I would set the auction time to 10 days to give more time for people to identify them on their own and outbid each other. You will need very clear pictures and preferably scans for any prospective buyer to determine if it's a valuable stamp.

If you have an interest in learning how to identify them yourself, then I and many others here will be glad to help you. There are many online resources we can point you to and can help you with the handful of ones that you might have trouble with.

Remember that the likelihood of any one of the stamps being rare is very unlikely. Similar to a scratch off lotto ticket winning you $1000 dollars unlikely. Spending $350 on $1 scratch off lotto tickets would almost always end up loosing money. As wt1 said and what probability dictates, chances are that none of the stamps are worth more than a few cents each. Averaging a dollar for each postcard is likely.

Do any of the stamps have flat sides on all 4 edges or on 2 sides opposite of each other? Do any of them have weird edges that don't look like the normal tooth like appearance that looks kind of like the teeth of a saw blade? Are any of them NOT only green or red? Are any almost twice the width of the other ones? Do any of the postcards have weird markings on them? Do you recognize the names of the addressee or recipient as being notable/famous? Does the writing have any interesting topics that could be a headline in a newspaper?

If you post pictures here of any that are significantly different than most of the others, we can try to help. Differences would include shades of color that don't match the others. Designs that don't match the others. Edges that don't match the others.

In my opinion, if you list them with some details and very clear pictures, then you'll get a fair price for them. As long as you do that, then you won't sell a rarity for cheap.

It all depends on how much time, energy, and desire you have to learn about them.

P.S.

NJPHIL3, welcome to the forum. Please also introduce yourself in the "Introduce Yourself Here" forum:
https://goscf.com/f/11

Good luck and

thank you for your responses. They were very helpful. I went through all the cards and pulled out a few that were "different" please tell me if any of these are "special"....may be special enough to take my wife to red lobster?

Philatelically I'm not seeing a dinner there. Maybe all of them for a dessert?

The Deltiologists might have more to offer, can't see the other side, but I'm guessing maybe 50c to $1 apiece.

Philately = study of postage stamps, revenue stamps, and postal stationery and their usage
Deltiology = study of postcards and their origins

You are going to need to post better scans, preferably a single full-sized scan for each card, right side up. If you want people to help you locate unusual features, you have to give them scans in which they can read the writing, especially the postal markings, easily and see the stamps up close without having to enlarge each one manually. Viewed at the range you have offered and upside down and sideways, these all look mundane and minimal--in other words, they invite dismissal when presented this way. (The same advice would apply for when you offer them on ebay,incidentally.)

They might well all look equally mundane and minimal in closer range and properly oriented, but the only (very remote) chance of spotting anything worth more than a dollar is to let people see more detail without craning necks or straining eyes.

Can you upload the full scans to a file hosting site? Somewhere like sendspace.com?

Other than the one card with the 2 - ½¢ Stamps the rest are all minimal value as far as the Stamps go and the ones with stains have zero value.

Here are a couple of examples of collectible cards, I believe this one sold for $10.00 due to the pristine condition.



This one I still own, the famous Lusitania which was torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1915

NJPHIL3, Greetings:

Stamp collecting is a great hobby ... postcard collecting is even better! ;)

But selling things one-by-one on ebay is a lousy hobby and, given the likelihood that your material is 'common', it is probably a lousy way to make money, too; you would be more likely to make more money working one day for Kelly Girl at minimum wage.

My best advice is that, come the 1st fair-weather Sunday of any month *except* October, you should take a ride to the monthly meeting of the Garden State Postcard Club in Gillette; it begins at 1100, at 769 Valley Rd (Senior Center).

http://www.seocom.com/gspcc/gspccshow.html ... details

In addition to a batch of dealers, they have an open-to-all auction where you can get a quick & fair price for your goodies.

It will, most likely, barely pay for the gas; most cards of that era, minus any hot finds, usually fetch ~10c each in a single lot at auction; the buyer will often be a dealer who will put the vast majority of the cards into a 25c bargain box, and spend months dragging that box from venue to venue to get rid of some of those cards.

OTOH, maybe your ship has come in!

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Whut IkeyPikey said. Probably not worth your time to post individual scans here or on a hosting service (but my point was that that's the only way anyone can go beyond a general "all minimal value" evaluation and even close up the same general conclusion may, most likely will, obtain). IkeyPikey's advice is best.

Well, if Hieronymus feels THAT way, I guess I'll double-down ...

NJPHIL3: Your 1908-1940 crosses the Great Wall of Quality in (especially) US postcards.

Prior to The Great War, (a generally accepted estimate of) 3 out of 4 postcards published in the US were printed in Germany.

German printers, displaying the usual German flair for precision & obsession with quality control, also enjoyed significant market share in Britain, France, et al.

The Great War interrupted those commercial relationships, and post-war sentiment & the Treaty of Versailles finished the job.

(I'll stick to the US part of the story; if your pile includes non-US-published cards, speak up!)

American publishers settled on a printing method which included an ~1/8" (~3mm) white border, most often said to be an economy measure (saving ~10% of the ink), but I suspect the primary motive was to show-off their use of color. Sadly, the quality of most of these cards - especially color registration - was awful. One result is that you can rip your eyeballs out trying to focus on the image.

Later, towards the end of your 1908-1940 date range, American publishers switched to what are now know as 'linen' postcards which, for a variety of reasons, find more favor with collectors. (You can still find awful linens, but you can find a lot of nice linens, too.) These have a cross-hatched texture not unlike a linen napkin, hence the name.

If you break your ~350 card pile into three piles - the linens, the whites, and the other (eg pre-WW1) - you will have a better idea (though hardly a qualified determination) of where you stand.

Most importantly, though, is the subject. A very few examples of hot topics: naked ladies, world's fairs & expositions, product advertising, misogynistic & racist humor, anthropomorphic animals (eg drawings of cats, dressed as people, doing people things), the Titanic, cards drawn by particular illustrators ... you get the idea.

OTOH, one of the nicest things about collecting postcards is the vast ocean of inexpensive cards, even from 1908-1940.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I'm surprised no one has commented about this postmark, so I'm going to pull it out of the group of postcard scanned earlier. While monetarily it's probably not worth much of anything, from a postmark collecting standpoint, there are not many CDS postmarks that I recall showing a town's two names with the first one circular and the second one in straight print directly below, as in Forked River, NJ:



Although it may not hold much of any value alone, it just goes to show how different aspects of postcards appeal to different collecting disciplines.

Although it appears as though the stamps aren't going to cover that 3-pounder at Red Lobster, there are a few things to consider.
I see a few American Machine Flag cancels (one with a Slogan) and these might be of interest to machine cancel collectors. In all likelihood, most of the value will come from what's shown on the picture side, followed by the publisher of the postmark. On the earlier ones, look carefully at the picture for a phrase such as "hand colored." This phrase tends to appear cryptically on many cards, but adds value for deltiologists. Cards made in Germany or Great Britain also tend to carry more value (this is normally printed on the writing side of the card). Any publisher's logos can make a card more desirable. On the early ones, look for what's called an un-divided back. Early postcards only allowed the address on the non-picture side (for the postcard postal rate.....any message written on this side would up the rate to 1st class automatically). This is why some of your early (un-divided back) cards will have messages written on the picture side. Later, as regulations changed, the divided back cards came in. These are the ones with the vertical lines so the address can be written to the right, and a message on the left of the same side.
FWIW, I sell a fair amount of postcards on ebay (along with postal history, stamps, etc) and many go for $4 - $10 with the same kind of stamps as the ones you have. As mentioned above, unusual marking up the ante, as do better stamps. I'm semi-retired, so I have the time to sell these moderately priced items and although it can be time-consuming, by the end of the month I have a tidy sum that I can invest back to buy what I collect. If you have time to burn, sniff around ebay and get a cursory look at what's available and different types, and then start listing if you think it will be worth your while. It may take some time, but you may be able to get a lobster dinner eventually after all.

ikeyPikey, wt1, and docgfd, thank you for your input. There are may details that can differentiate more valuable examples of any piece.

NJPHIL3 posted a mere 7% of his 350 postcards. As you all have pointed out, there are some that are interesting if at least not valuable.

I want to see detailed scans of one particular stamp because it falls in the time frame and appears to be "bluish." That could be worth a good lobster dinner for him and his misses. It's unlikely, but it's possible.

NJPHIL3, others have invited you to local stamp club meetings. Doing so could help you find valuable and/or interesting pieces that you acquired. Regardless, you'll probably meet some very nice and helpful people.

Unless you have too much free time, posting scans of all 350 is probably not worth it. If you do have the time, then I'll gladly help you identify each and every one. This forum severely limits the quality of images posted. Upload the scans to a file hosting source so that I and others can see them clearly.

You probably don't have a rarity, but I enjoy doing my best to find rarities. It's up to you and how much time that you have. As I said before and as many here have said, it's probably not worth your time. That is assuming that you can spend your time more profitably. Some, like myself, don't have a pot to piss in and a few hundred dollars is actually worthwhile. If you're in that position, then taking them to a stamp club/dealer/collector and/or posting all of them here may be worth your time.

Regardless, it won't hurt you in any way to proceed further. It's up to you.

Take care,
Ryan