Quote:
Originally Posted by americana_collector
Hello
I’m new to the forum, but not new to collecting. I have diverse interests across several fields, but I’ve always had an interest in vintage baseball cards and baseball autographs. This year I’ve focused very heavily on signed government postcards (GPCs) and they have become my favorite medium of autograph collecting. I think it’s the simplicity and uniformity of the medium that appeals to me. I also like that they are postmarked/dated. For some reason I never focused on them until this year. Anyway, I assume I’m not alone in this interest and I joined the forum to ask a few questions of fellow collectors. Thank you for the time to read and respond.
1. Are there collectors who focus exclusively, or primarily, on GPCs?
2. What are some of your favorite collecting themes (i.e. HOFers, deadball
era players, etc.)?
3. What are the demographics of the average collector? (Full disclosure,
I’m late 30s).
4. Do you think there are still a number of original owner collections out
there? I’m thinking of individuals who were born in the 1930s or 1940s
and sought autographs TTM in the 1940s and 1950s? I know Leland’s
auctioned a large collection from R. Sklar in 2023.
5. When did the GPC form of collecting die out? I have had a very hard
time of finding players who came up in the late 1950s/early 1960s on
GPCs from that period.
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Welcome to the GPC collecting club, it's quite a fun one and I enjoy collecting them myself. The postmarks, and uniformity are part of the draw, and the reality that a lot of them tend to be playing days autographs.
I have about 30, but I am less a completist and more of an elite/best players collector in this medium. I chase the toughest names, and at some point will likely try to complete the lower echelon of players.
I happened to purchase a few of the Sklar "Long Beach" GPCs last year, and have found and picked off a few super tough names over the last few years.
I think my favorites are My Clemente (Incredibly tough), Grover C Alexander & Cy Young from the Long Beach collection, my Walter Johnson (Incredibly tough) , My Gehrig, Jackie, Ruth, '51 Mantle, '61 Mays and so forth.
There are a few big name HOFers that are available in droves on everything, but very difficult on GPCs. Ted Williams is a great example, as is Hank Aaron.