Vintage Postcards or not

Hello, Do you guys send vintage postcards?? I find, that some of them seem too fragile to send sans envelope. Or do you prefer to keep those in your personal collection??
I was recently browsing in Haleiwa, Hawaii a vintage shop and they carry some vintage postcards for a hefty price. Some of them were blanks while others were already written and addressed/stamped. It’s interesting to see what people wrote in them & to where they were meant to be sent.
I picked up for myself this 21 year old Postcard which I know is out of print for my personal collection.
It was originally sent to Sebastopol, California. Wonder how it got back to Hawaii??

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Hello Dave,
there’s a topic about vintage postcards with several opinions here :wink:

I think of 1930s linens as being vintage, while 1990s is just older. And yes I do still mail off older cards!

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I haven’t sent any vintage postcards, but I have some in a collection for myself. I also love to read the old messages and to see the often very minimal addresses written on them! And old stamps and postmarks.

I just bought a written and stamped lot of 25 cards from an Etsy shop to do an activity with my 9-year-old called “Postcards of Eternal Return” thought up by California artist Lea Redmond where you re-mail vintage postcards to their original receiving addresses (in an envelope this time)! Redmond even had artistamps made for the project to put on the envelopes! Maybe that’s how your lovely Hawaii card ended up back in Hawaii :email:

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Neither. I do not collect US or International postcards published before 1990. Reason being the photography isn’t that great. Other traders don’t like them either. I also do not send out such cards in trades.

Right now, the market is flooded with such cards. To give you an idea how these types of cards are viewed, I recently won an auction lot of 3000 Modern Continental Chromes, the majority 1960-1980 for $115.00 I pulled out what I need; the balance I will resell or offer at postcard shows for $0.25 each.

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I do send vintage cards with my own message and ma happy to receive them.

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@SilverHare I’m trying to find more info on this artist or the article you found this in. Nothings come up on google, do you have anymore info by chance?

@Gforrest Here is Lea Redmond’s website! https://leafcutterdesigns.com/

Her “Postcards of Eternal Return” is the latest of her S.A.S.E. Treats (you send her a self addressed stamped envelope [with USPS postage since she’s mailing from the USA] and she sends it back to you with a paper surprise inside, often a mail themed activity). Usually the things she sends end up in her shop a month or two later :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m currently collecting one vintage postcard written and stamped with a clear postal mark from each decade of the 20th century

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For some reason, most of the postcards that are sold in local touristy areas near me are still using the same pictures from the 1980s and 1990s (and the copyright date that is printed by the photo credits on each postcard also confirms that fact) :confused: The postcards themselves are not “vintage”, just the selection of pictures hasn’t changed for at least a decade or two.

I find it quite amusing because the cars and public transport in the photos are soooooo obviously from the 80s or 90s :rofl:

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It’s the same here :smile:
they are not vintage, but not from this time either.

I like vintage cards, one is very special:

The printing on the backside looks like written with typewriter.
I like that it’s old, still sturdy, the delicate art, to me it says “connection”, and I keep it always on my album where my empty cards are, on the first page, and every time I’m happy to see this.

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I send out vintage and don’t mind receiving vintage either. When I first started I didn’t know where to get cards, but we have a number of antique dealers in my very tiny town so I went there and found old blank cards. When I send them out I try not to cover the spot where the postage is marked 1cent/2 cents international. Plus, for my area, there aren’t often cards showing the area unless they’re vintage. So postcards showing churches/ libraries/our old downtown/cars etc. fit people’s requests. Along with some nice vintage holiday cards.
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I recently received a great vintage grape card.
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I only have 3-4 vintage postcards to send. I sent one out recently - it was very flimsy, and I did think about putting it in an envelope, but in the end, decided against. Happily, it survived the journey.

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I recently bought (online) 3 sets of vintage postcards wich I really thought they were vintage. Once I received them they were new postcards printed with a vintage image on the frontside and on the backside they were printed with an old vintage look but it wasn’t real. I was very disappointed and I was wondering if people would like these cards because I think they are “fake vintage” if you know what I mean :wink:

Those are known as Vintage Reprints. I think most members who like vintage would be okay with that.

I love old cards - and I also send a lot of them, unless the adressees explicitly state they don’t like them :slight_smile:

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There’s an RR on Vintage, retro and vintage reprint cards that has a good definition of the various categories of vintage cards. They usually send real vintage ones in an envelope because of their fragility indeed, but they do get sent to each other (written, prewritten or unwritten). Yours might still be considered retro depending on the exact printing date?

I have acquired a large number of old Japanese tourist photo postcards
The pictures are in color.
I think they are probably about 40 years old!
Some people seem to prefer vintage cards, does this apply to them?
How old are the preferred vintage postcards?
Are they ones that have already been used?
Are unused ones also vintage postcards?

And should I not use the postcards I have obtained?
I am wondering because I know some people may not like them…

I really like that idea - Postcards of Eternal Return! I can’t seem to find more information on it though. I found Lea’s shop - https://leafcutterdesigns.com/lea-3/ - and Patreon - Lea Redmond | creating playful provisions for the curious and kind | Patreon - but they don’t seem to mention the postcards’ project.

As official cards here in postcrossing only unused cards are sent.
Some members have written about they like getting a written vintage card in an envelope, then I could send such, maybe with another card with my message in it.

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