Real Photo Postcards (RPPC) Questions

I only collect 1960s Killebrew memorabilia, and while the image used for these postcards is from the early '60s, is there any way to know if the postcards are of the same vintage?

I've read that it's easy to tell under magnification if an RPPC is "vintage", but does that necessarily mean it's the same vintage as its picture? And can I make any judgment based on eBay scans? Does the back of the "full bleed" one narrow the years down much? How about the copy with the thick borders? Does that likely pre-date the full-bleed one? The seller of the thick-bordered card lists it as an original Brace postcard, but I don't understand how that's determined, or if that even necessarily dates the item to the 1960s.

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice!

[Runscott]

A few thoughts, as I wait for Spiderman to rescue Gwenn:

• There are plenty of websites that will allow you to date that postcard back. If it passes and is early 1960's...
• ..and if so, it's almost certainly a real photo, but easy enough to check.
• The borders certainly don't preclude it being 1960's - that was common for 1950's also.
• When in doubt, I always ask myself, "would anyone have incentive to fake such an item?" In this case, the answer would almost certainly be "no"

Maybe I need to research further, but the web sites I've read so far only identify the postcard back I posted as no older than 1950 - but I've found nothing that tells me that it's not post-1960, or a reproduction.

As far as faking such an item, I was under the impression that RPPCs were re-issued from time to time, and also that ballplayers had copies made for autographing purposes (I know Killebrew signed a bunch of modern reproductions of 1960s team issue photos of himself, and he also signed a bunch of RPPCs just before he died that were auctioned off by his estate - so I wonder whether those could be reproductions also).

[btcarfagno]

Seems to me to be a Jim Rowe postcard. To my knowledge, these were produced mostly from the mid 1970's through maybe the early 1990's or late 1980's. I do not think that it dates to the 1960's.

Tom C

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

Seems to me to be a Jim Rowe postcard. To my knowledge, these were produced mostly from the mid 1970's through maybe the early 1990's or late 1980's. I do not think that it dates to the 1960's.

Tom C

Bummer. Anything post-1920 is out of my wheelhouse, but I enjoy learning stuff, as I occasionally buy more modern items. It's amazing how many mistakes I make when I purchase post-war items, thinking I know what I'm doing - I certainly would have guessed early '60s for this item.

[thecatspajamas]

Not necessarily Jim Rowe, as many photographers used that same standard pre-preprinted Kodak RPPC stock. Not necessarily NOT Jim Rowe either though, and very well could have been produced by him as he was one of, if not the most prolific producers of baseball-related RPPCs during his time. It does lack his usual penned notation of the subject on the back, but I don't know if he did that all the time. Being so prolific, there are probably RPPCs produced by others floating around out there that are automatically attributed to Rowe just based on the Kodak back, but any photographer could have ordered and used the same standard RPPC stock (standard RPPC back printing was applied by Kodak as part of the manufacturing process, not the photographer).

As far as I know, there is no way to know whether the RPPC was produced around the time it was shot, or later (on up to the 1980's as Tom C says). That back was first produced around 1950 and remained the standard Kodak RPPC back for the next 40 years or so, which really puts a cramp in any attempts to date these things. Sometimes the 2nd or 3rd generation images are very obvious due to the loss of clarity and contrast (fading to an almost uniform gray in the worst cases). This one doesn't look to be as clear-cut a case, but based on the scans, I would lean towards it being a 2nd generation print re-shot from a larger original (though I might change my mind if I saw it in person).

As far as re-issuing RPPCs, the practice depends on who was issuing it to start with. Many photographers, such as George Brace, Norman Paulson, J.D. McCarthy (though most of his were printed, not RPPC), and others made a living by selling primarily to the players that they photographed, the players' family, and perhaps the occasional collector or autograph hound looking for printed images of their favorite players. Prints of all sizes were produced essentially on-demand to fill orders, with organized numbered sets or annual issues being an odd occurrence rather than the norm. And the same images were often available in a variety of sizes and finishes, full-bleed (image all the way to the edges) or white-bordered, etc (for a price, some would even hand-color a black-and-white print for you). So if the photographer is working with the original negative, and using the same RPPC stock for decades, it's pretty much impossible to tell whether a print was produced in the 1960's, 1970's or 1980's.