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Valentines - Love Goes Postal

Posted Thursday, January 15, 2009 1:12 PM by Suzannetique | 0 Comments

Tags: penny dreadfuls, valentine postcards, origin of valentine, history

Valentine greetings go back to the Middle Ages, but it was the advent of the penny postcard that turned Valentine's Day into a multi-billion dollar greeting card event.

Valentine Love tokens are Positively Medieval

In the Middle ages, Valentine greetings were said or sung, but by the 15^th Century beginning to be put into writing. Sometime in the 18^th Century, Americans adopted the custom of sending valentines that were imported from England. These were often religious in nature, and some believe that the sacred heart depicted on the cards evolved into the valentine heart, and that the angels accompanying the heart gradually became Cupid. Despite the existence of the pre-printed card, the majority of valentines was one of a kind and made by hand. Consequently, few exist today.

Love goes Postal

During the Victorian age of mass production, advances in printing techniques made it possible to purchase a high quality, machine made valentine. However, these were almost always hand delivered because mailing them would have been prohibitively expensive. Around 1870 or so, love went postal, and valentine postcards appeared in the marketplace. For the first time ever, anyone with a penny in their pocket could profess their love via US Mail. These penny postcard valentines were wildly popular, and collected in albums, and displayed on mantelpieces.

Poisonous Postcards-The Penny Dreadful

Earliest valentine postcards were of high quality German manufacture featuring beautiful women, children, flowers, and handsome couples that embodied the virtues of the day, but soon the penny dreadfully and vinegar valentines entered the fray. John McLaughlin, a New York printer produced a line of badly printed, poorly colored cards on cheap paper that made fun of old maids and schoolteachers. These were marketed as "Vinegar Valentines" and sad to say, were highly successful. American Cartoonist Charles Howard developed a line of comic (?) postcards, the so-named penny dreadfulls because the cost a penny both to purchase and post, and were dreadfully mean. These postcards became more offensive and risqué, and postal authorities rejected cards that were unfit to be delivered. By this time, greeting card manufacturers were mass producing cards in envelopes that became more affordable to buy and send. The Valentine Postcard fell out of favor, but not before it played its part in making Valentine's Day the second biggest greeting card day on the calendar.

Postcards - Dates and Values

Posted Tuesday, November 11, 2008 2:16 PM by Suzannetique | 0 Comments

Tags: Collecting Postcards, first postcards ever produced in US, Postcard values, how to date postcards

Values of Collectible Postcards are determined by the age, type, and subject of the card. Here's how to determine the age:

PIONEER ERA (1893-1898)

This era began in this country with postcards put on sale by vendors and exhibitors at the Columbia Exposition in Chicago in 1893. These proved to be enormously popular, but are now scarce. They can be identified by a combination of the following:

Undivided backs

Most will be multiple view cards

Many say “souvenir of” or Greeting From”

The most common titles are “Souvenir Card”, or “Mail Card”

Postage rate is 2 cents

None show the “Authorized by Act of Congress” byline.

A Columbia Exposition card sells for between $2-6 depending on subject.

PRIVATE MAILING CARD ERA (1898-1901)

In 1898, the US government gave private printer permission to print and sell postcards. These cards were typically reprints of the earlier Pioneer cards, with the inscription “private Mailing Card” added.

UNDIVIDED BACK ERA (1901-1907)

These postcards have undivided backs intended for the address only. Short messages were written on the front, or picture side of the card. Used cards of this era with writing on the picture side are acceptable by collectors

DIVIDED BACK ERA (19071915)

The divided back provided space for the address and the message on the back of the card, and left the front unmarked. Collectors loved these cards for mailing scrapbooks and trading. Typically, the image filled the entire front of the card.

WHITE BORDER ERA (1915-1930)

This era began when postcards ceased being imported from Germany during the First World War. US printers began producing postcards to fill the void, but these were of lesser quality than their German predecessors. The White Border Era signaled the end of the “Golden Age of Postcards”. Postcards of this age were often reprints of earlier divided back era cards with a white boarder around the image.

LINEN ERA (1930-1945)

Postcard manufacturers began using higher quality paper with a high rag content to produce cards with a textured surface, but still used inferior inks. Linen era cards depicting Roadside America, Black Americana, comics, and advertising are very popular with collectors. These subjects can bring $10-15.. Typical tourist area views are worth only a few dollars.

PHOTOCHROME ERA (1939 TO PRESENT)

Introduced in 1939, photochrome cards became highly popular with collectors because of their beautiful colors.

REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS (1900-present)

These cards often have the photo processing information in the stamp box, and can sometimes be dated based on that. With some exceptions, these cards bring the highest sums, especially if the location of the photo is indicated. Depending on the subject, these cards range in price from a few dollars to $50. High prices are usually for cards with cross-over appeal, that is, subject matter that appeals to many categories of collectors.