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Copyright ©2008 VintagePostcards.org

Postcard dealers get lots of strange requests, by both e’mail and telephone. Most revolve around people wanting us to buy their antique postcards sight unseen, or people wanting to sell very common postcards (such as views of Plymouth Rock) for large sums of money. Occasionally, someone asks if we have a certain precise vintage post card that they’re looking for. This never works out either.

However, we were touched by one recent request. The sender of the e’mail, who shall remain anonymous to preserve her privacy, wrote: “My mother-in-law is trying to locate a postcard from the early 1940s. It is in Asbury Park, NJ. She remembers the postcard. It is her mom, brother and sisters on the Swan Ride. (Is is similar to the postcard you have on your site from Seaside w/Swan ride). She has been searching the internet w/o much luck.

“She does not have any photos of her siblings when they were that young. Her brother has prostate cancer and I think she is trying to find it for him to see. Please help!”

If you have a copy of the Asbury Park, New Jersey swan ride postcard from that amusement park, let us know and we’ll pass the information along. We’ve already told her how to set up an eBay search, how to post to “Want It Now!” and how to search Playle's and Delcampe. Do you have the old postcard she’s looking for?

Copyright ©2007 VintagePostcards.org

Canada has a long tradition of producing quite beautiful patriotic postcards. We thought we’d show you some examples. This one is a splendid c. 1906-1908 (postmark illegible) patriotic postcard of the hospital at Moncton, New Brunswick. It was published by Warwick & Rutter of Toronto, one of the better postcard publishers of the time. Notice the elegant surround with provincial flags, and the Union Jack.

Two Canadian patriotic postcard checklists have been published. The first, The Canadian Patriotic Post Card Handbook, 1904-1914, was authored by W. L. (Wally) Gutzman and published in 1984 by the British North America Philatelic Society. Long out of print, the book can still be found occasionally in the stores of online book sellers. It has many informational color plates and grades postcards by rarity factor although, of course, the prices are long out of date.

Michael J. Smith’s The Canadian Patriotic Postcard Checklist, 1898-1928 is replete with many more examples of patriotic postcards. Published in 2003, it’s also out of print. Both books are worth including in any postcard reference library.

A handsome, if fanciful, patriotic view of the North Bay (Ontario) City Hall is seen above, in which it appears improbably exalted to the level and grandeur of surrounding images of Niagara Falls, the prairies and their agricultural fertility, the Rocky Mountains and Parliament. High hopes abounded, and this exuberance was often reflected in patriotic postcards of the time.

And yes, dear readers, in case you’re wondering, we appear to have lost our splogger. We’ll be writing about ways to protect yourself from intellectual property theft with use of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) in an upcoming issue of AuctionBytes, where you can also read a current article of ours, Two Online Auction Sites for Postcard Collectors and Dealers.

The great graphics in this unused c. 1930s to 1940s vintage postcard of the Art Deco-style Greyhound bus station in Jackson, Mississippi don’t give a hint of the building’s importance to the Civil Rights movement. Bus travel was often one of the few reliable means of travel for black Americans prior to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Travel by car through Southern states, in particular, could be dangerous, and the number of motels accepting black travelers was, frankly, unpredictable. Often, weary travelers rode the bus: it was economical, and they could sleep on the bus. In fact, this Jackson, MS bus stop was nicknamed the “Jackson Hilton.”

This Greyhound bus depot also played a role in black history: it was the destination of the second Freedom Riders’ bus on 24 May 1961. After their arrival, hundreds of civil rights demonstrators were detained in animal pens at the State Fairgrounds. The post card has "“cross-over” appeal to collectors of black Americana, roadside Americana and Hinds County material.

The bus station was also noteworthy for its streamlined Art Deco appearance. The blue glass on it was Vitrolite, a type of structural glass often used decoratively on the façades of Art Deco and Art Moderne buildings for its bold impression. It was last manufactured in 1947. Unlike terra cotta, which had been used experimentally and primarily for ornamentation in earlier 20th c. architecture, Vitrolite didn’t warp or swell and wasn’t prone to fading or staining. Impervious to moisture and easily cleaned with a damp cloth, it made streetside maintenance easy. In other words, it was perfect for a building which received heavy traffic, like the bus station. Vitrolite could also be brilliantly colored, as seen here.

You can see more antique postcards and black Americana at VintagePostcards.org

Copyright ©2007, VintagePostcards.org