Old postcards are very collectable so there is a strong market for old postcards. Unfortunately most postcards are worth just a few pence which is strange because many of them are over 100-years old. But age does not guarantee worth, especially if the marketplace is saturated with them.
This can be said of the many millions of postcards that were published and sent from seaside results in the Edwardian period. While coloured printed postcards of popular seaside resorts are worth a few pence the back street real photographic views can be worth a lot of money.
Scarcity is always a good indication of what something can be worth. Back street real photographic views of Blackpool by publishers like Sankey of Barrow can fetch £25.00 each. Real photographic views of Blackpool promenade are worth 50p-£1.00 on a good day.
I remember trying to buy a postcard of a Burnley Rat Catcher from a French dealer. The French know the value of postcards and this dealer knows there are not many postcards of rat catchers. Not the most pleasant of subjects I grant you but it appealed to me from a social history point of view.
I finally bought it and had to pay the price so there was not much margin in it for me. But I was just pleased to offer something a little different. I thought I would sell it quickly but 1-year later I still had it in stock much to the amusement of fellow dealers and collectors.
The funny thing is I have never seen another to this day and wished I still had it. But one of the collectors who was mocking me for buying it actually purchased it? If I saw it again, I would buy it, just because of its rarity and a perfect example of Edwardian social history.
Even the strangest postcards can find a good home if they are scarce. There is a huge market for old postcards and so many collectors are obsessed by them and will pay anything to purchase them even when they know they cannot afford it.
I remember two postcard collectors from the same area. Both collected local views but there was an edge to the relationship and they never got together to swap duplicates. One would not travel long distances to fairs and instead was first in the queue at local ones. Each collector could only dream about what postcards the other had in their collection.
The other collector did the miles and went up and down the Country with very little competition. It’s a shame it’s like that sometimes. So competitive that friendship takes second place. Sadly, one of these collectors has now passed away and you can be sure he did not leave his postcard collection to the competition in his will.
The market for old postcards is still buoyant, with the prices of certain subjects and areas continuing to increase as demand outstrips supply. If you have a number of collectors with deep pockets and they collect the same local area then the competition is fierce and prices can skyrocket. This is the job of the dealer, to know these areas and fill the void to hopefully make big profits by sourcing these scarce postcards for the collector.
