Question on old postcard collecting

[darkhorse9]

I know there are several people on here that collect vintage baseball related postcards. Some of them are really cool and would be a good addition to my collection.

My question is, though. Does having them written on and a postmark raise or lower the value? To me it would seem to raise the value since the date of issue is guaranteed. That's counterintuative to collecting anything else, though.

I'm sure it's been asked and answered before but I came across some neat old postcards that I might have wanted, but they were in excellent shape with no writing or postmark, so I passed on them. Hopefully I didn't miss a deal.

[Leon]

I have several hundred old baseball type postcards. To me they are better being canceled. I am not sure if value goes up much though. On the regular baseball postcard sets I think cancellation does add some value. I am not as fond of writing on the fronts, but depending on the writing, not a deal breaker. So basically I collect them any which way. I buy them way too often too!

I am ok with the writing on this one..
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[x2drich2000]

In general I think the value still goes down as people consider them to be marked and the grade suffers as a result. Though I feel like the TPG don't hit them as hard for the writing as they would a standard card. Personally though, I think it gives a great snapshot into people's lives so I have no problem getting ones that are used.

[mrreality68]

I agree with the above mostly if you have it graded by PSA, SGC etc the grade would go down to the condition ( in part the mail and handling) and the writing etc.
The value also depends on the subject matter or the postcard and potentially even the date and context of the postcard writing. For example I saw a postcard that was about a historical game( sadly I do not recall the postcard) and it was dated and mailed on that game.

But in general I think post cards are still under appreciated and under valued. Although they are in recent years starting to escalate in price spending on the player or team etc on it

I was not into post cards but made the leap about 2 years ago

[EddieP]

I supposed the PC will go down in price with a postmark and writing because of the emphasis with looks and Grades. That being said I prefer the ones with postmarks ( free authentication from the USPS), messages and addresses. I view it as a time capsule that you can fit in the palm of your hand: 1) it shows how people thought during then, 2) it shows how the US population grew. The really old ones had only a name, city and state. Then postal codes were added, followed by zip codes, to finally the ZIP+ 4 numbers. 3) it shows how areas changed. Doing a google search on a home address most often shows the area became a retail/ business zone, and 4) you can get some really cool stamps.

[Casey2296]

Love that PC Leon.