Vintage Postcards or not

Postcards & Mail Postcard chat!
21

I have determined that the cards I have are not vintage in age, but retro cards!
I plan to use these postcrossing as they are of course unused cards :love_letter:

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22

Yes. Love them! They all have a history and I always wonder how vintage stuff survived and who was the owner who bought it first.

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23

I enjoy them a lot. I have received some through Postcrossing, and I also sent some to people who I think will value the cards.
I love really old ones (1880-1920) so much that I buy them from eBay (most of them are written) and collect them in a vintage postcard album. Sometimes I look up the address or the people mentioned to find out more about their lifes and the time they lived in. So interesting!

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24

Hmmmmā€¦I tried finding it again this morning and I couldnā€™t locate it either. It was under her S.A.S.E. Treats before and she sometimes makes them available in her shop, but I did not find them there today. Hopefully they will be available again because it is a very fun project :blush:

25

Tempted to contact her and see if she minds other people doing it too - sending vintage used postcards to the address they were originally intended for (with an explanatory note) sounds like a fun way of introducing some magic to strangersā€™ lives. Maybe with an email and/or blog to collate peopleā€™s responses.

26

My problem is, Iā€™m never sure what people mean by vintage.

I have quite a few cards from the 1960s-1970s, as my friends on the Weird and Goody Two Shoes RRs are aware. As they are not usually the most {cough} appealing cards in the world {cough cough}, I often save them for RRs where theyā€™re well suited for sticker bombing and perhaps a spot of dĆ©tournement.

Those, I call vintage.

But if weā€™re talking about lovely old cards from the turn of the 20th century (1890s-1920s), then I call those antique ā€“ which they are. And who wouldnā€™t like to get those? But they are very pricey hereabouts, plus they often have writing and (cancelled) postage on them from when they were first sent. Would the recipient want me to send it with the original writing (in which case it has to go in an envelope), or with blank paper pasted on top for my own message? If itā€™s the former, then Iā€™m merely helping them grow their antique-card collection; and if itā€™s the latter, I feel Iā€™m doing violence to the integrity of the original ephemera :laughing:

So mostly when people say they want ā€œvintageā€, I suspect what they really want is something antique, or in an antique style, in which case Iā€™ll often send vintage reprints.

tl;dr: it would be nice if people defined what they mean by vintage :wink:

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27

Iā€™m not sure why but I actually kind of like this, lol. I went to a Hallmark store while on a road trip recently and found many Minnesota boating postcards that reminded me of my childhood in the 90ā€™s. Brings on a good feeling! :upside_down_face:

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28

https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/GR-90380

I have some unused vintage postcards in my collection, whcih I will send for postcrossing.

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29

Is it acceptable to put a vintage postcard in an envelope and mail it? I have a few but they are delicate and definitely would not make it w/o an envelope.

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30

I look for post cards at charity stores all the time. I love them and if appropriate, I send out hoping someone will like receiving. I donā€™t call them vintage, just cards from years ago.

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31

I love vintage postcards. I collect ones that have any relation to Chicago. I send them out in the NA WBMP RR. I also have a good amount of ā€œinappropriate onesā€ that are usually just jokes that were seen as funny in the 60s-80s but not so much now.

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32

There are some members that are fine with envelopes, but some definitely prefer no envelopes. Just like some members enjoy vintage cards and some donā€™t. I think thereā€™s another forum thread about both of these topics.
My suggestion is only send a vintage card in an envelope if the recipient says they like vintage cards or collect vintage cards, or if they say envelopes are fine in their profile. If I understand correctly, the general expectation is that postcards arrive as a postcard, rather than in an envelope like a regular card.

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33

I personally love the smell of old paper. Old books and especially old postcards.

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34

I acquired a show box fof about 300 cards approx 30 years old and they have that wonderful old paper smell.

I love the dates views including old style cars etc. The previous owner wrote on the back where they are from - I have one from West Germany which ceased to exist from 1990!

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35

beatriceh, thank you for responding what does NA WBMP RR stand for?

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36

@DearSabrina - It stands for North America: Write Back My Postcard Round Robin:

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37

Thanks @silverhare. How did you post that? I can never figure out how to point people towards RR pages.

38

The RR is a great way to get your own cards back.

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39

I collect vintage/antique postcards, but only if they are used. :slight_smile: I focus on cards from 1890-1940 and try to find them with local addresses. Iā€™ve gone down some pretty great local history rabbit holes learning about the families and businesses that once existed in my town.

@SilverHare - Leaā€™s project sounds awesome!

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40

Iā€™m glad you shared that because I have avoided buying any of those because I was not sure If anyone would want them.

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