As I have mentioned several times before, I started
collecting postcards when I was a small child.
I cherished those cards that my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends
gave me. Unfortunately cherishing an
item and taking good care of it can be two entirely different things. I had about 100 antique at that time but they
are definitely worse for wear. I had
shoved them in a box and then repeatedly removed them to look at the lovely images. Handling them with bare fingers and not using
care caused them to be dog eared and worse.
You have to remember I was only around 8 years old at the time.
By the time I was ten I was starting to realize the value of
some of these cards. I found magazines
in the library etc. so I knew I wanted to organize my growing collection and
protect them. But I was not knowledgeable
enough and my folks didn’t really know either.
They had no interest in the collection so they basically let me do
whatever I felt would be right. So I put
little letters in the corners (sometimes with pen, Aghhh!) and covered them
with saran wrap and taped them closed.
A few have survived (by a miracle) and don’t have writing on
them. I find them to be very near and
dear to my heart. But unfortunately most
of them are in a grade 4-5 condition are what I consider to be very poor. Over the years I learned how to better keep
them and had them in photo albums and real sleeves but the other unfortunate
thing was that the common public really didn’t know about the difference
between acid free albums and the other.
It is really important to keep your collection in a cool,
dry storage area away from direct sunlight.
I you keep them where it gets too hot or has direct sunlight it can
cause damage to the colors and may cause them to get brittle. Using Acid free materials is also imperative;
I buy the actual postcard sleeves which is the best if you are really serious
about collecting. I only remove them
from the protective sleeve to scan the images and then I carefully place them
right back in.
Store them so that they are lying flat. I have some in my collection to sell that are
slightly curled because they were carelessly stored on their edge and never
checked. If your cards look like they
are getting bent or curling you are going to have to find another way to store
them. Some are stiff enough to be filed
this way but some are not. Real Photo
Postcards tend to have the most problem with this and naturally want to curl a
little. I find that making sure they are
lying flat or in an album helps to prevent them from getting more curled.
Never write on the postcard itself, no matter what, file
them with a catalog system or organize them in an album but do not write on
them. Even if the pencil is light it still
may cause damage to the card and bring down the value. A serious collector may pass it up or want it
for a lower cost if you have it marked directly on the card. Often I see prices and vender numbers on
them. I still get them and sell the card
but it can bring down the value.
Here are some great resources to purchase the postcard
sleeves from (Note: all of the cards I sell come with a protective sleeve)
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