Delaware – Global Postcard Sales

Total: 40 postcards

Greetings (map)
Unmailed Plastichrome card DM-1 (P314672) from 1970s, serrated edges and very minor crease on lower right front. Aging a bit on reverse. Grade: 2

Code: 10108001
Price: $4.00
Dover, new state house
The Delmar Mdse K-18334 unused card’s caption is “New State House,” so we are curious whether the state house was new when the card was new or if the state itself was new, which would make the card quite old, but it’s not–it’s from roughly the 1960s–so we are puzzled. But the card is just fine. Grade: 1

Code: 10108002
Price: $4.00
Rehoboth, Virginia Avenue, post-season
A testimony to the good times, when these were actually selling; but why did the caption writer need to specify “Post Season”? To justify the lack of people? Card mailed in 1977 with four stamps and indistinct Washington postmark. Card has serrated edges and some postmark smudging on the front. Grade: 3

Code: 10108003
Price: $2.00
Fenwick Lighthouse
Two unused Plastichrome cards P66685 are available, aging but in resolutely good condition. Grades: 1

Code: 10108004
Price: $4.00
Greetings from Fenwick Light
Two of these unused H.S. Crocker cards C-107 are available. Grades: 1

Code: 10108005
Price: $5.00
Dover, Loockerman Street
Mailed in 1948, this linen card was mailed from Indiana to Arkansas. Stamp and full postmark. Grade: 1

Code: 10108006
Price: $3.00
Hello Over Rehoboth
The 1970s version of the Jersey Shore. Unused Dexter Press card 60729 (and 82094-C), slightly abraded and definitely aging on the reverse in particular. Grade: 3

Code: 10108007
Price: $1.00
Rehoboth Beach, Replica of Henlopen Light House
To make it clear, the replica is the lighthouse itself and not the postcard, which is unused but noticeably handled Plastichrome card P12865. FYI the Light was built in 1725, rebuilt in 1764, and finally destroyed by storms in 1926. Grade: 3

Code: 10108008
Price: $3.00
Greetings from Delaware
Mailed in 2013 with barely readable postmark, two stamps, and edge abrasions from USPS processing. Grade: 3

Code: 10108009
Price: $1.00
Wilmington, Winterthur – Azaleas
Unused 1961 postcard, rounded corners. Grade: 1

Code: 10108010
Price: $1.00
Dover, The Kent General Hospital
Delaware postcards can be surprisingly hard to find, so here’s one … unused, Del Mar News Agency #75429. As for the hospital, as we usually do, we Googled it. Now called Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus, it has decidedly mixed reviews, a polite way of saying that if those reviews are true (big IF), some homework might be useful before checking in. Grade: 1

Code: 10108012
Price: $1.00
Wilmington, Nemours Building from Delaware Avenue and Washington Street
Unused Del Mar News Agency card 70890 (22). Grade: 1

Code: 10108013
Price: $2.00
Delaware – The First State
An unused “local” card for several categories, with the photos nicely identified in the caption on the back along with a shadow map of the state. Grade: 1

Code: 10108014
Price: $2.00
Dover, State Capitol
While we don’t have many Delaware postcards now, and even though this unused old card is missing two corners, it is undeniably authentic and shows what must have been one of the smaller state capitol buildings. Grade: 4

Code: 10108015
Price: $4.00
Wilmington, Old Swedes Church
Undivided back postcard mailed from Wilmington in 1908 with stamp and postmark. Sending postmark on the reverse; receiving postmark faintly on the front. Grade: 1

Code: 10108016
Price: $4.00
Wilmington, night view
Wilmington has hotels! The unused card says so! Grade: 1

Code: 10108017
Price: $1.00
Wilmington, Winterthur Museum & Gardens
Unused. Grade: 1

Code: 10108018
Price: $2.00
Wilmington, New Nemours Building from Delaware Avenue and Washington Street
Mailed many years ago from Wilmington (1-cent stamp and postmark with city/state name only), aging nicely and with some postmark transfer on the upper front left. Grade: 2

Code: 10108019
Price: $2.00
Dover, Christ Episcopal Church
Unused Tichnor Quality Views card 66652. Grade: 1

Code: 10108020
Price: $1.00
Wilmington, Delaware Park Race Track
Unused. Grade: 1

Code: 10108021
Price: $4.00
Dover, Legislature Building
If you collect Delaware postcards, this one is worth every nickel. Mailed in 1939 with its 1-cent stamp and clear Dover postmark, the message area contains only a stamp-like sticker for Delaware … showing the Legislature Building. Normally we would downgrade a card for having an extra sticker, but not this time. Grade: 1

Code: 10108022
Price: $6.00
Dover, State House
Unmailed, embossed, and very old (a pencilled notation dated May 1910 is on the back), this card makes the building look like some sort of fantasy home. Maybe it was. Full disclosure: the right bottom reverse edge looks as if a small bit has been trimmed away, but we’re not certain if that happened at time of printing, or later. Our grading takes the most pessimistic view: Grade: 4

Code: 10108023
Price: $5.00
Wilmington, Delaware Hospital
Unused, linen card telling us that this “is one of the oldest and best equipped hospitals in this section of the country”. Oh to be a caption writer. Grade: 1

Code: 10108024
Price: $2.00
Wilmington, Brandywine Park, Water Tower
Wilmington folks will know the truth about this, but the rest of us who depend on Google will come away totally confused. When this card was made (undivided back, mailed in 1906 with stamp and postmarks from both sending and receiving stations), it clearly describes the tower as being in Brandywine Park. Flash forward to now, and Google shows it to be called Rockford Tower and to be in Rockford Park, which seems to be a bit northwest of what is (or was) another Brandywine Park. We’re thinking some subdivision went on and that Brandywine used to be a lot bigger. In any case, very nice (and very old) card. Grade: 1

Code: 10108025
Price: $5.00
Wilmington, Market Street Bridge, over Brandywine
If you Google this, you are going to jump through hoops to figure out what’s what. We think we know a few things now: there have been several “Market Street Bridges”; this one was the North Market Street Bridge; and it’s gone now. As for the card, written by a lonely daughter to her mother, it has a larger stamp and two overlapping postmarks from 1913. All in all, if you collect bridge postcards, this one’s good for you. Grade: 2

Code: 10108026
Price: $6.00
Wilmington, Alfred I. DuPont Memorial Carrillon Tower
Unused, old “local” card 66684. Grade: 1

Code: 10108027
Price: $2.00
Multiple scene montage
This unused card’s caption focuses on Delaware’s history as the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Grade: 1

Code: 10108028
Price: $3.00
Dover, Capital Complex
Unused. But Delaware’s official website — or one of them — calls this the “Capitol Complex” and from what we leaned, that sounds better to us. Grade: 1

Code: 10108029
Price: $5.00
Wilmington, Longwood Gardens, Fountains at night
The funny thing is, this atmospheric, unused old card’s caption on the reverse locates these Gardens near Kennett Square in Pennsylvania, while the caption on the front designates Wilmington. So — with apologies — we go with Wilmington, but were curious. So as we often do, we Googled. The result? Officially, the address (and actual location) are Kennett Square, but the person most responsible for the Gardens’ development, Pierre S. du Pont, is probably more well-known for his association with Delaware. Who knows what the card’s designers were thinking? Too late to ask them. Grade: 1

Code: 10108030
Price: $6.00
Dover, Legislative Hall
Unused later card of a building dating from 1933. Grade: 1

Code: 10108031
Price: $4.00
Dover, State House
Lots of dates in the caption of this unused Traub postcard 293. Grade: 1

Code: 10108032
Price: $3.00
Rehoboth, Fishing and Beaching
“Fishing and Beaching”? Not sure we would want to be swimming in exactly the same place where people were casting lines with hooks. But to each their own. Unused Mike Roberts card B7415, serrated edges. Small mark in the stamp area. Grade: 2

Code: 10108033
Price: $2.00
Hello from Rehoboth
We went to Rehoboth Beach twice. Once was enough, for us. Unused Dexter Press card 47446-C. Grade 1

Code: 10108034
Price: $3.00
Dover, Greetings
This unused Dexter Press card 10288-B (DD-86) is about as iconic as a circa-1950s postcard can be. It is exactly as we would have wanted to receive, and we hope you would, too. The caption is quite detailed. Grade: 1

Code: 10108035
Price: $6.00
Wilmington, The Du Pont Building and Farmer’s Bank Building
It should not be a big surprise that our innocent Google search to learn whether “Farmer’s Bank” is still there led to a mess of confusion about details as obvious as the actual name of the bank (Farmer’s? Farmers’? Farmers?) and the building itself. None of this matters much now, and the unused card is what it is. Grade: 1

Code: 10108036
Price: $3.00
Dover, The City Hall
Unused Plastichrome card P18095 from what looks like the 1950s. Grade: 1

Code: 10108037
Price: $3.00
New Castle, Court House and Market Building
Unused Plastichrome card P63793. Grade: 1

Code: 10108038
Price: $2.00
Dover, Capitol
A jewel in the crown of old Delaware postcards, itself dated 1906 (from E.C. Kropp) but mailed in 1939 with stamp and clear Dover postmark. As a bonus, in the message area, it has what looks like a stamp also celebrating the State Capitol, but it’s not a U.S. official stamp, but part of some kind of commemorative set. Exceptionally, we will not downgrade the card because of that. Grade: 1

Code: 10108039
Price: $12.00
Greetings from Delaware
The kind of postcard everyone wants to get, then and now. Large-letter Curteich-Chicago C.T. Art-Colortone linen card 9A-H1481, unused. Grade: 1

Code: 10108040
Price: $5.00
Wilmington, Pavilion Entrance to Zoo
An old (1908; clear postmark and stamp) card, from Anita to Norine, soliciting trades. Norine must have liked the card because she kept it. Postmark ink transfer on the front. Grade: 3

Code: 10108041
Price: $4.00

Total: 40 postcards