Postcard Reference Books

By: Richard Moody

"Buy the book before the coin" was the slogan of a book dealer for coin collectors over 30 years ago and that is still good advice today and also applies to postcards and any other collectible. Just about every hobby has books to help the collector and postcard collectors have a wide range of helpful books. If you are just beginning, I would suggest "The Postcard Price Guide" by J. L. Mashburn which he updates every few years. This is a great general review of postcard collecting and covers most of the major categories, dating postcards, grading postcards and gives price ranges for the various grades of the many postcards listed. I would also suggest buying each new addition since he not only updates prices, he uses different postcards for illustrations giving you additional exposure to what is available. Mashburn also publishes postcard category specific books including books on Sports, Artist Signed and Blacks. These books can be found on Amazon, Books A Million and Barnes and Nobles as well as the author's website Colonial House Publishers, www.postcard-books.com. Another book that is considered the bible for postcard collectors is "Standard Postcard Catalog" by James Lewis Lowe which was published in 1982. Long out of print and very hard to find, it is worth the search if you can find it because it has 288 pages of very detailed information. Needless to say the prices given are way off now but they can be used to determine the better cards. One place you might try to find this book is the Gotham Book Mart at www.gothambookmart.com or you might run across it on eBay. One area you will not find much help on is view postcards as they are so diverse and have many different traits that drive their price. I will cover view cards next time but for now there are hundreds of great books to help you with your collecting interest so just get on the Internet and search them out. Get the basics down first and the fine points will come with time and exposure to the postcard world.

Books on view cards in general just do not exist as far as I know however you can find some information in books such as James L Lowe's "Standard Postcard Catalog" that I mentioned earlier. In that book under "Sets and Series" you can find mention of Raphael Tuck series on St. Augustine Florida, St. Louis Missouri etc. Also, the "Detroit Publishing Company Collector's Guide" by Lowe and Papell which was done in the 1970s and Nancy Stechschulte's 1994 book "The Detroit Publishing Company Postcards" have extensive information about the postcards (estimated to exceed 17,000) produced by the company, many of which were view cards. You can also find information in books such as "Baseball Stadium Postcards" by Tom Crabtree, "Nevada Post Card Album" by Robert Greenwood, and the large number of books published by Arcadia Publishing in "The Postcard History Series". The Arcadia books are done by individual postcard collectors who share their collection and knowledge of specific towns or areas. There may very well be an Arcadia book that will cover the area you are interested in so check out their website at http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/ and the price is less than $20.

When shopping for postcards on you favorite town, remember that content is king and availability and condition are close behind.

Article Source: https://www.collectibles-articles.com

Moody's Postcards has been accumulating vintage collectible postcards for twenty years. We specialize in United States view postcards but we also have thousands of antique foreign views, topical postcards and trade cards. www.moodyspostcards.com www.moodyspostcards.blogspot.com

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