Let's Talk Vintage #57: How to Spot a Valuable Christmas Postcard

 

 

 

 Welcome to Let's Talk Vintage!

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Today I am sharing some of my

vast just enough to be dangerous

knowledge on collecting antique

Christmas and holiday postcards.
 

 

The early 20th century brought

about some wonderful paper ephemera,

in the form of greetings.
 

Let's take a look at some of them,

with some tips and hints to spot

a collectible card.

 

I've chosen the holidays just

because we are about

to hit the busy season...

but some of these tips

apply to the cards that

were made for all year round.

Let's start off with Santa.

If he is wearing a suit that is
not typical of the modern
red and white, then the
card is worth more and is
sought out by collectors.

In the card above, his suit
is trimmed in black.


 

 

Here is another unique card, with

the reddish brown cloak.

 

 Plus, he is not carrying his usual sack of

toys... but a lantern and axe,

standing with an angel.

 

Cards like these can make the

value run anywhere between

10.00 - 15.00.

 

(Side note: These two Santa

 cards are available in my shop 

under the ephemera category)

 

 

 

 

The gold or silver foil kind are very common

but they never seem to lose their appeal.

 

Some stand out above the rest

like the wish bone and the robin.

 

This one has wonderful

glassy style glitter,

hard to see in the photo but

really feels neat to the touch.

 

This is a mechanical postcard.

It is worth more... and is more

desirable to collectors.

 

 

See the arrows pointing out the wheel,

which changes the month, date, and day

of the week? It could be used

as a calendar. Love it!

 

This one has a lace edge.

 

These are embossed and have

great texture.

See the raised detail?
 

Now this trio is where we get into some of the

more valuable cards.

Look for teeny tiny print at the bottom.

Some are by famous artists.

 

The one on the right is by John Winsch.

 

Also very collectible are

Ellen Clapsaddle and Frances Brundage.

 

Do you see Ms. Clapsaddle's

 signature at the bottom?

 

These can run anywhere

 from 6.00 to 15.00.

 

She also did other holidays

so be sure to look for those...

like Halloween, Valentine's Day,

 and St. Patrick's Day.

 

 

 

Although I am not sure who is

the artist of the postcard,

I tend to be drawn in by

 cards that have people

in them.

 

 

These are foreign cards.

Note the text in English and Italian.

I've also seen French.

Then there are cards with
wonderful graphics.

But sometimes the appeal has nothing
to do with money at all.

It is what is written on the back that
melts the heart.
 

 

I hope you learned something new

today about collecting holiday postcards!

In a future LTV post I will share some
cards from my own collection.
(Yet another!)

 

 

Now, here are this week's features:

First, let's start off with Rita of Panoply.
She and her Sisters created "Chris Missy"
and dazzled everyone who saw her in
their shared antique booth.

 

 

Sarah of Sadie Seasongoods gets a lot

 of "blog time" being featured.
 

But with ideas as clever as this teapot
sewing box with the lid pin cushion... I can see why!

So clever, she now has me with an eye on a couple of

tea pots in my inventory, and I'm not really a big crafter!

and Penny of Penny's Vintage Home
shared some of her amazing
Christmas displays. She mixes
new and old together. I love
these ballerina figurines that
were her Mother's.

and Sam of Raggedy Bits
shared her cupboard makeover.
I love how she distressed it
and added the handwriting paper.
 

 

 

If you were a feature

today, be sure to grab this

"My Blog was Featured"

button! 

 

Now it's your turn...

 

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