Postal Cards

Anyone else collect postal cards?


1894 UX12


1907 UX19


1911 UX23


1911 UX24


1911 UX25

I collect postal cards ... but would probably be defined as a "casual" collector only. I prefer the handwritten/postmarked ones which gives a glance into history moreso than the mint cards.

Here's one example:



...and the message side:

@wt1, I love the card you shared!

It is commonly recited that the only demonetized U.S. stamps were the ones so ordered c. the U.S. Civil War, to keep the Confederacy from using existing stocks. As a postal card collector, you will know (but perhaps some other readers may not) that this answer is incomplete: there are postal cards that have been effectively demonetized, because their size is now below the minimum mailable size for a postcard, and a cut square from a postal card has no franking value when glued to an envelope or other card.

That is, the money is still good, but the card is not usable, and all the money is tied to the card!

USPS link http://www.usps.com/postalhistory/_...talCards.pdf

Russ, Thanks for this link and the other you posted on the history of the US Christmas stamps. Good stuff. I've collection of postal cards, but don't know yet, if I'm collector.

This card (Scott UX20; McKinley 1908) is a cousin of the card Russ put on (UX19). It is postmarked Lidgerwood, ND July 14 1908 and addressed to Bowbells, ND.




I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea but I like where postal items take me. If you check Lidgerwood ND on Google Maps (click on satellite) you will see that it is located near (NW of) the dramatic but now abandoned outlet channel system that drained glacial Lake Agassiz over the Continental Divide and into the Mississippi River system via the Minnesota River roughly 10000 years ago.

I read once that postal cards were the email system of their day and that they were whipping around the country by the millions. One of my favourite cards has only one line on it - "Will be home tonight". If you give that sentence some thought you have to conclude, no matter how close that someone was to home, that it had to be one fantastic postal system.

Nice card! Just looked up Lidgerwood, ND and found that it has a population of only 738. Still has an active post office, too.

Wt1: there is also an interesting association with the Movius lady that the card is addressed to. Either her sister or cousin was North Dakota's first female bank president but I think it was the family bank.

Couple more


UX3 Sep 23, 1875 Blairstown, Iowa to Del Norte, Colorado Territory


1881 UX7

Even though I never got around to collecting postcards US or otherwise,
looking at some of these makes me wish I had.

I particularly like the Sheridan and Martha Washington ones.
Nice sharp scans bfranton.

Since I actually got the rest of Grandpa's stamps this holiday; Guess I'm now officially a postal card collector. I'm not home; but there are some older ones from around the globe... c 1900.

I hope you post some here Iam looking forward to see some of them

Some help here please. I have no international catalogs.





Newfoundland



Canada, again with the postal reply attached (but love the color difference.)

This probably belongs on the international forum too.

Yes, but only Vatican and Canadian ones.

I also like the look of many of these. Great area for study, and a happy crossover to deltiology, where I bet we coudl all find some new philatelists if we only tried...