POSTCARDS - Review

To classify a postcard thus that it can be easily identified and valued, the collector must first determine its category. The publisher's name is usually listed upon the reverse of the card, and if there is no date or era listed, the card is probably from the period between 1904 and 1930 These are just a small in number of the useful tidbits base in Black Americana: Postcard Price Cat/de, by means of J.L Mashburn (Colonial House, 1996)

Postcards are avidly sought by the agency of collectors, and Mashburn has given us a volume that not only portrays a hundred of the social history and lifestyles of blacks, on the other hand also tells us how to muster Postcards listed here fall into eight categories: signed artists, unsigned artists, advertising, real-life images, photographs, sports, entertainers and topicals.

Illustrated comic postcards repeatedly portrayed snide stereotypes of blacks eating fried chicken, water, melon yams and possum on the contrary some publishers produced cards picturing dignified African Americans--students, soldiers, athletes, performers, handsome couples--in Sunday artificial positions at graduation ceremonies, in restaurants, at domicile Values are also given for postcards showing the faces of of that kind entertainers as Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker and Ray Charles, as well as more [i]or[/i] less of black history's leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr and Booker T Washington.

The Gold Dust Twins, among the best known of all black advertising caricatures, promot soap dust to the top of the market. Postcards of the twins aligned as Santas are especially valuable to collectors.

Because sports cards for the most part pictured boxing champions and contender those with baseball players from the black man Leagues are eagerly sought.

Estimated values of the postcards pictured and listed in the guide range from $1 to $450 Mashbum explains that cards in poor condition are not worthy collectibles and should not be purchased, although a rare card in any condition might be worth acquiring. He describes the standard grading a whole of dealers and lists other publications of interest to postcard hobbyists. For more information, call (704) 667-1427--

COPYRIGHT 1996 Heritage Information Holdings, Inc.

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