Hey y’all! So, I’m planning on going to my first paper/postcard/ephemera show in January. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me what to expect? Any tips? Thanks so much!
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I went to a vintage postcard and paper show for the first time recently and I felt it was mostly for collectors. I was hoping to get some postcards for sending, but the cheap/normal priced postcards were mostly used already. Bring cash with you
Keep your expectations reasonable. These shows cater to collectors of vintage paper items mostly. Don’t expect to find modern postcards there. I go to a show here in NJ (it’s actually a 2-day show). Of the dealers there, maybe two or three will have cards I am interested in. They usually have the modern cards in the $0.25 boxes. When I went in late September, I found a whole box of my own cards, that I had sold elsewhere. Imagine that…
What is a paper show? Is that like a fair for people selling paper? Or more like an exhibition?
Because the first thing that comes to my mind (due to the word “Show”) is someone in a fancy tuxedo on a stage presenting all the fancy paper he has to the audience 
And I guess that’s not it 
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I thought of something like a puppet show, but with characters made of paper… 
But it sounds like some sort of market/trade fair if that’s the word.
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I think they will be selling what is called “ephemera”. Ephemera are any short-lived written or printed papers that are not meant to be kept or preserved. Old letters, that sort of thing.
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