Which Side Of A Post Card Is The Front?

The addressed, stamped and post marked side would the front from a mail handling viewpoint. To me the postmark is the key.

I was always told that the business side of the card was the front that being the side that is addressed, franked and then cancel if it performs its intended duty.

It depends what side of the card you consider the back...….

Front/back is two dimensional thinking…perhaps postcards have a top/bottom and four sides?!?
Don

Thank you, all, for your participation! These results reflect the results of the Australian forum tha sparked this poll in the first place! Interesting!

I guess it depends if one is a post card collector or a postal history (covers and cards) collector.

For my 2 cents. The view is on the back. And here's my thinking ... To look from a broad postal history perspective, the vast majority of mail pieces have the address, stamp, and postmark on the "front", whether an envelope, post card or postal card. That is the operational side of the mail piece as far as getting it delivered by any postal system. Thus the back side tends to have the flaps, the postal card's message, or the postcard's picture. The view just goes along for the ride as a secondary feature.

And yet the postcard collectors don't often think this way and thus we all may have to agree to disagree and move on - knowing that each is right in our own minds and those who disagree are just as crazy as we are but in a different way!!

I consider the picture side as the front and it is the side that the sender considered when choosing to purchase the postcard. If this was not case then people would then purchase blank cards and mail them out. Postcards were an important promotion tool for businesses, towns, and attractions.

I'm both, and my albums and file boxes reflect this. In my Esperanto topical collection, for example, the address side is treated as the front, unless it's an unused picture postcard (not a postal card), in which case it goes in a different section of the album and the picture side is treated as the front. In my picture postcard file boxes, the picture side always faces forward, even if the card is postally used.

Since I last thanked everyone for participating, there have been a few more votes. The results are remaining about the same - 15 votes for the picture being the front, and 15 votes for the address/stamp/etc being the front, plus 3 votes saying that it is more complicated than that. There is nothing remotely resembling consensus on this subject!!!

I agree with John Becker. I've always believed the side bearing the stamp was the front.

That's how postcards were before the advent of pictorial postcards.

What if the stamp is on the picture side, not the address side?

What if there are stamps on both sides, as below?

The side you look at the most

Depends upon what your interest in the card is.

I think it depends on whether it is a Postal Card (a card issued by a postal authority with a stamp imprint as postage paid) or a Postcard (a souvenir picture postcard with an address side but no stamp).

If it is a Postal Card, catalogues have always identified the item by the stamped side. Therefore that should be the front regardless of whether it has a picture or nothing on the opposite side.

If it is a souvenir Postcard it can only really be identified by the photo. Therefore, the photo side should be considered the front.

That's my opinion.

Even with the souvenir pc, the post office had to look for the postal requirements, a name, an address, and payment of postage, all found on the Front.