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Collectable Postcards Magazine

Friday
May 09th
Home
Headline
An Invitation to View
 About a month ago we were invited to view a collection of postcards that we understood had not seen the light of day for nearly sixty years.  The stories’ surrounding the postcards was vague and changed as the story was told to us by various parties that had heard about the collection.

We found out a little more and the story was even more intriguing when we heard it from the horse’s mouth.  A young couple in the early 1900s had opened a newsagents business in a small Kent village.  They were not the best of business people but made a living from selling newspapers, tobacco, sweets and the odd postcard.  They also never returned the newspapers and comics they had not sold.

During or soon after the Second World War they closed the shop and retired never clearing the shop or selling of the old stock.  During the 1960s the couple passed away and the family never bothered with the shop or property until 2006.  The property was in a dilapidated state and it remained unsold until it was placed in auction in 2007; the property was purchased by a builder.
 In late 2007 the builder made a thorough inspection of the property and on entering the shop found shelves full of sweet jars with varying quantities of sweets remaining, tobacco, cigarettes, tins of snuff, newspapers tied in bundles, comics, and all variety of things you would expect to find in a village shop -- we would now call a convenience store.  

Stacked in piles and stored in racks he discovered hundred of postcards.  The builder feeling he had discovered a treasure trove of highly valuable antiques and collectables called in several antique and collectables dealers who began trolling through the treasures.  Regrettably, these dealers had little knowledge of what they were doing considering the sixty plus years of dust and the delicate condition of much they surveyed and in particular shuffled the postcards without even blowing the dust from them.
 When we were asked to inspect what remained and make an offer we were saddened to find bundles of prints with the edges torn and dust ground in where they had been shuffled.  There were some very fine examples of early printed village postcards with busy street scenes, market day, and fishing etc. that had been so badly handled that none could be rescued.  There was a stack of greetings and other postcards from the 1920s that could be saved.

We made an offer based on that at least fifty percent of the postcards would have to be thrown away.  The builder was disappointed expecting around ten pounds a postcard.  We suggested he check eBay and several dozen other internet websites selling postcards.  About a week later we returned to the shop with dusting brushes and boxes to save some of the cards before taking them to our warehouse.

It is regrettable that we have had to throwaway so many of the postcards due to their mishandling by so many so called experts.  It was relatively easy to rescue the photographic and gelatined postcards due to their glazed surface.  The printed cards were the sad loss due to flaking edges from damp and light damage as well as those damaged by the dust and years of neglect.

A lesson we have learnt over the years is to carry an old soft bristle shaving brush and before examining the postcards in stacks or albums is to dust the combined edges lightly trying not to force the dust into the album or stack of postcards.  Even when we buy at auction we make certain that any dust is removed before we examine the postcards.  It may appear a little fussy to go to such lengths but how many times have you found a stunning postcard you would have liked for your collection only to discover black in ground dust in the image or grey edges that might have been saved with a little care.

Though we did not have much sympathy for the builder who was about to make a substantial profit when he had refurbished the building as the treasure trove he though he had discovered was bunce.  We were not too surprised at the high value he placed on the postcards when you consider they ranged from eighty to sixty years of age, even I wish they had a trade value of £10 each -- I might even make a living at those prices.

   
   
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