Ornate Old US Postal Card, Unused

Is it safe to assume this is from 1898, as the copyright indicates?

Yes

Greetings, JessEm:

Before the Private Mailing Card Act (effective 1898.07.01), Picture Postcards were often designs printed, one by one, onto postal (post office issued) cards (like yours).

The reason was the differential between postal cards (1c) and any sort of private card (2c) - the latter bearing legends that included 'Private Card', 'Mail Card', 'Souvenir Card' - said differential being eliminated by said Act.

Just weeks ago, I was at a bargain box where, for two dollars each, I could buy reprints of the 1898 Trans-Miss cards. Passed.

Keep warm.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

So is this a Trans-Miss card, or a reprint? Why did you pass on them, because they were reprints?

Thanks for the info.

JessEm, Greetings:

Yours looks like an original.

I would not expect that a modern reprint would reprint the postal side of the card :)

For extra points, you can try & find out if the Trans-Miss postal cards were subject to reprinting after the exposition closed.

My seller had ~10 very modern reprints, which would have come to U$D ~20, for which I could buy a book about the Trans-Miss exposition (etc).

Hallmark reprints ancient postcards now & again; the reprints are worth ~25 cents, the originals can be worth ~25 dollars if they are in pristine condition. The reprints you can mail to your friends for a charming nostalgia moment; the originals you would slip into in archival sleeves, pack into darkness, and store in a temperature-controlled & humidity-controlled environment, all the while wondering how that postcard managed to survive one hundred years without you ;)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Thanks again ikeyPikey. :) I got a good laugh out of that last line.

JessEM, that's a great card and lots of collectors seek exposition material and the Omaha expo is at the top of the list. Where in MN are you ?

Hi Stallzer, I'm in Shakopee. Minneapolis 2nd tier suburb.

Know the area well, I'm over in the Woodbury area

Nice. You ready for some warmer weather yet? I know I am.