Does Pre-war mean pre-1939?

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by conor912

I've always considered '48 as the beginning of post war cards, but there's obviously 10 different takes for every 10 guys you ask....

I do too, although technically not sure. What about poor R302-1 (M.P & Co. 1943)? They got nowhere to go

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Paul S

I do too, although technically not sure. What about poor R302-1 (M.P & Co. 1943)? They got nowhere to go

casualty of the war. c'est la guerre.

[VoodooChild]

Here's how I classify/define eras for my own purposes:

1900-1941 - Pre-War or Pre-WWII era
1942-1947 - Obscure era
1948-1980 - Vintage era
1981-1986 - Pre-Junk Wax or Rookie Card Craze era
1987-1996 - Junk Wax era
1997-Present - Modern era

[vintagerookies51]

I’m with those who have said pre-war is during the war or earlier, and post-war being 1946 or later. To be honest I thought that was pretty well accepted

[h2oya311]

I think someone else here nailed it. We call things "post war" (essentially anything issued 1946 and later). Everything else is "pre-war" because there is no category called "war". There is certainly a gray area for cards issued between late 1941 and 1945 during the US involvement in the war. But then again, there weren't all that many cards issued during that time ('42 to '45), so I don't really care how you categorize them, but every card needs to fit somewhere, right?

For those going on a limb and stating that you wouldn't consider a card issued in 1940 or 1941 as "pre war", then what might you call them??? Certainly not "post war". Do you call those "vintage"? Each card needs a category. Please explain the cut-off.

[CobbSpikedMe]

I always considered prewar to be 1941 and earlier and anything after I considered postwar. I never thought of postwar as 1948 and later. It was 1942 or later for me. So MP&Co. was always considered postwar.

As a side note, Anson, the creator of prewarcards.com is a board member so maybe he will chime in at some point as well.

Also, not that it's an authority or not, but eBay has the Pre-1942 search option as well. So that agrees with the 1941 and earlier as being prewar.

[Rookiemonster]

It’s always been a vague way of saying it to me. Like what war? Vietnam? The gulf war? I would call anything before Vietnam vintage.


I don’t really see why we have pre war and post war.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Rookiemonster

It’s always been a vague way of saying it to me. Like what war? Vietnam? The gulf war? I would call anything before Vietnam vintage.


I don’t really see why we have pre war and post war.

There are a few reasons US collectors have WWII as such a dividing line.

Unlike wars we've been involved with since, WWII was pretty much total. Anything that didn't aid the war effort or public morale wasn't looked at as all that good. (yes, there were luxuries, black markets and even dissent, but less openly than you'd think. )
As such, production of lots of consumer products was halted. Cars were basically not built (with a very few exceptions) Any materials were used for production of war goods first, anything else second. Some materials were entirely unavailable publicly. Like chrome. Bicycles were produced, but as stocks of parts were used up, the new parts when available were painted rather than chromed.

Recycling was also huge. A huge portion of what existed for any needed material was gathered up in drives and recycled. Paper and metals especially.

Most stuff that was made before the war began for the US became a lot less common in a brief time.

After WWII, the attitudes were different. So stuff made after the war wasn't recycled to anywhere near the same degree. And the people who were kids during the depression and war were now adults. Adults who had experienced a lot of time without money for stuff, then a stretch with money, but nothing to buy. So saving stuff became a lot more common.