Post A Photo Of Your 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair Postcards

Belgium display


Chrysler building


General Motors building


USA display


Administration building


Avenue of Flags


Sky ride and exhibits


General exhibits


Hall of Science


Jackson Park


Transportation building

Just great. Had a great aunt who went to the Chicago World's Fair and was thrilled. Even made the local paper.

"One of these things is not like the o-thers ..."

Jackson Park was the site of the 1893 (not the 1933) exposition, and that card strikes me as pre-1907.

And, here's another thing that's not like the others: The Streets of Paris / Meet Me In Paris pavilion.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

The Burlington Railway Exhibit offered a special treat:

IkeyPikey clued me into this thread from the larger world's fairs/expos thread that's getting some attention lately. I think this one deserves a bump up.

Okay, ikey, I'll see your Streets of Paris exterior shot and raise you one from inside the pavilion -- and a brontosaurus. Also a few others. Enjoy!

A couple night views ...






And the rest.

Well done, GregAlex!

I have only this modest postcard trifecta (subject, stamp, slogan cancel) to offer. Note that:

- the WikiGod lists the opening date as 27/May/1933;

- the slogan cancel 'announces' the opening date as 01/June/1933;

- the slogan cancel was applied to this postcard on 31/Oct/1933.

Q/ Did they never update the slogan cancel?

Q/ Was the near-to-last-day mail volume so high that they added new clerks with old killers?

Q/ Is the "49" a station number and, therefor, a clue?

I'm willing to allow that the closing date (Nov __) was not shown because, at the time the killer was manufactured, it was not certain.

Another possibility, of course, is that the ink never made it onto the stamp as a matter of the-luck-of-the-strike.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_Progress ... the Century of Progress at deWiki

http://www.chicagopostcardmuseum.or...s_LOBBY.html ... "complete collection" (are they kidding?) at the Chicago Postcard Museum







And check-out that tractor-trailer tour bus!



Edited to append: Postcard from the collection of Michael Lebbert.

IndianGoldEagle started us off with the South Entrance to the Hall of Science ... here's the North Entrance:





Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

This one was posted earlier, but here's a larger image. Looks a lot like a futuristic monorail station, eh?

I've just started a collection of 1933 Century of Progress postcards. There seem to be quite a few out there that are quite nice. So many, that I'don't aspire to collect them all. But, out of curiosity, does anyone have any idea roughly how many different ones there are?

'
It is a fact of post card life that census data (in the sense of the number of types by publisher, never mind the number printed) is usually hard to come by.

A small group of collectors had led a prodigious effort to re-construct the history of Tuck's, to cite one success, and the library that was gifted the archive of Curt Teich has also been hard at work.

But, in general, fuggedaboudit.

http://www.metropostcard.com/ ... select [Publishers] to get an idea of how many companies were active in 1933.

All that having been said, you might be able to find a list of just the 'official' souvenir post cards ... let us know if you find one!

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

On the back of the postcards by Ruben H. Donnelley Corp. are the words "Official Post Card of A CENTURY OF PROGRESS" and a card number. The color cards have numbers in the 100s and the black-and-white ones have numbers in the 200s. So far, I've seen numbers up to 150s and 250s, so I'm guessing that there might be less than 100 in each of these "official" series.
Now, about the other publishers...
Sounds like a good (but intimidating) project to create a database

Creating a database like this is a very long term labor of love.

It means, for example, repeatedly searching websites, such as Card Cow, eBay, et al.

If means repeated contacts with tens of dealers, asking if they have anything new on your topic ... and, hint, you're gonna have to buy a few to keep them interested.

It means following-up on other sources - such as books & journals & magazines & newspapers - to get details on any cards they used as illustrations.

And it means never knowing when your universe is going to suddenly grow larger (and your progress towards the ever-elusive 'completion' diminishes) when you find that yet another publisher offered a series of relevant cards.

That being said, it *is* a very cool topic, with stamps & covers & maps & leaflets & tickets & every other sort of ephemera to liven-up your collection.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who has learned to assume nothing, nada, zip, zero, from the serial numbers ... except that you've found what you've found)

Good analysis, IkeyPikey. A complete database probably would have been easier in the later '30s and 40's. So, I think I'll try to create a database of just the "Official" postcards published by Donnelley. Because they are numbered, it should be relative easy to know when I have them all listed. With the cards I have, and those listed in various places on-line, it will be a good exercise in the possible.

'
Well ... its not like you have to discard the information you learn about other cards from other publishers ... you can have your focused database and, say, an appendix.

And, since your enthusiasm has survived thus far ...

Postcard publishers were incestuous.

My friend Evan (z"l) lived for a time in Asheville NC, so I was chuffed to learn that there was an eponymous postcard publisher, and wondered, for a time, if I might specialize in their cards.

Only their cards were not (only) their cards. It turns-out that they licensed a large number of designs from Curt Teich (as did so many other publishers) ... and now go figure-out whether Curt Teich did the printing (adding the Asheville Postcard Company imprint) or whether they lent the separations (etc) and Asheville added the Curt Teich credit.

(One important clue is that CT serial numbers followed a certain format, and were almost always in the same place on the front of the card, so we can be comfortable guessing that a card with a CT s/n was printed by CT, whereas a card with only a CT credit was printed by the licensee.)

Anyway, don't be surprised to find the designs of even Official post cards on the cards of other publishers, letting you wonder who owned the design.

Welcome to the mess, and rejoice that we're playing with post cards, not doing stem cell therapy.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I like the idea of an appendix. Just filing away whatever information about other companies that is uncovered along the way.
While your are correct about companies printing each other's cards, one of the good things about Century of Progress cards is that they are common enough that I probably don't need to worry about forgeries.