An iconic view on this unused, aged card, showing album indents on the corners but otherwise undamaged. Grade: 2

The caption calling Shanghai “the most busiest international harbour in Orient” may not be strictly true now, but anyone who has seen the city in the past few years cannot dispute that it is “the most” in many ways. Unused card, superb condition. Grade: 1

Peking is nowhere to be seen in this countryside view of the Chinese equivalent of a covered wagon. The card is unused and was printed in Germany. The right and left edges are abraded to suggest they were roughly cut from a strip, but we weren’t there when that happened; there are also minor album indents on reverse corners. A lovely card overall. Grade: 1  

Unused card #222 from Universal Postcard and Picture Co. of Shanghai. Despite minor edge abrasions, it’s another great entry in this series. Grade: 2

We like cards like this, on many levels, not the least because it takes dozens of Japanese characters (on a card of China) to say what two words in English communicate. On the back of this unused card, the phrase “Post Card” appears in 13 languages, not all of which we recognise. And one layer of the card is beginning to separate from another layer, on one corner, but this doesn’t affect the photo. Whew. Grade: 2  

It’s impossible now to know what this unused card would have looked like when it was new, though clearly a bit of colour would have helped. However it is still special in its own way, as it was issued by the South Manchuria Railway Company of Dairen and is not damaged. Grade: 2  

This Universal Postcard & Picture Co. card 267 was never mailed and so it is absolutely perfect for substantial framing and hopefully relocation back to a first-class Shanghai hotel or office–or your own home. Grade: 2

The caption, which may be too tiny for the scan, says: “The spot where General Nogi interviewed General Stoesslor, Suishiei, Ryojun.” The only way we could find in Google to learn anything about this was to enter “Suishiei” because there were so many different spellings of Stoesslor, and sure enough, the meeting was in 1904 at this location near Dalian at the time of the Russo-Japanese war. Japanese general Nogi Maresuke and Russian general Anatoly Mikhailovich Stessel (Stoesslor?) agreed on a cease-fire in that house, which was owned by a doctor. Apparently the agreement was signed on the operating table. The card came later, of course. Grade: 2  

Another unused card from the Russo-Japanese War group. We won’t attempt to explain this one. Grade: 2

Another unused Yamadashi card, printed by Kaigakenkyukai, calling Shanghai the “most busiest international harbour in Orient.” Clear blue skies and no traffic! Album indents on reverse corners, and minor edge abrasions. Grade: 2

Affordable and unused old B&W card. It is unattributed, and has shadowy album indents on reverse corners. Grade: 1

In Hong Kong, at least, this company is known as Wing On (if it’s the same, and we think so), the largest local department store. The card is unused and appropriately aged. Grade: 2

You may compare this with our earlier card having the same picture but produced by a different company and in a completely different way. This one is more the real-photo, unused, but with some pencil abrasion on the front. Grade: 3

Another unused Russo-Japanese War card, another battle aftermath. Grade: 2

Nanking and its river, with English identification on the reverse. Unused vintage Chinese postcard. Grade: 3