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Chicago, Coliseum
Mailed in 1933 with stamp, most of the postmark, and readable message. Significant postmark transfer on the front. Grade: 3
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Chicago, Jack-Knife Bridge
Mailed in 1907 with stamp and almost all the postmark, the card is fully readable on both sides but very heavily aged, especially on the reverse. Grade: 3
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Chicago, Coliseum
From Suhling Company of Chicago, this card mailed in 1908 with stamp and nearly all of the postmark. We love cryptic messages. Grade: 3
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Chicago, Lake Shore Drive
Mailed in 1906, stamp and postmark are there. Grade: 3
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Moline, 15th Street Looking North
From 1912, stamp and full postmark. Very heavily aged, but you can read the message and imagine being there. Grade: 3
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Morrison, Waterworks Park
Mailed in 1908, with stamp and parts of two different postmarks. Grade: 3
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Chicago, A Beautiful Vista in Humboldt Park
V.O. Hammon card 1986, mailed in 1913 with stamp and full postmark. Grade: 3
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Chicago, Washington Park, Washington Statue
Mailed in 1907, two postmarks are there but the stamp is long gone. Grade: 4
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Chicago Railroad Fair 1949, World’s Fastest Locomotive
Collectors of railroad postcards shouldn’t let this one go. Unused card whose captions on front and reverse explain everything. Grade: 1
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Chicago, Jackson Park, Japanese Houses
Mailed in 1910, with postmark but without stamp. Grade: 4
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Salt Creek near Hinsdale
With a very long message on both sides–almost a slice of personal history–the card was mailed in 1910 with stamp and full postmark. Grade: 3
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Rushville’s Old School Building, Burned, 1893
Here’s the short story: there is more than one Rushville, but this old card doesn’t have any attribution, or say which one. A kind gentleman who owns a superb website in Rushville, Nebraska says it wasn’t their school. Then a kind lady from the Rushville (Indiana) library said: no, not us, it’s Illinois! Unused and heavily aged. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Lincoln Park, Animal House
Mailed in 1915 with stamp and full postmark. Heavily aged. Grade: 3 (barely)
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Greetings from Chicago
The front of this mailed postcard is in better condition than the reverse. The stamp is gone, and the 1910 postmark is mostly readable. As for the card, it looks like it had been lightly glued into an album. The locations on the front: Masonic Temple, Seal Pond in Lincoln Park, and the U.S. Grant Memorial, also in Lincoln Park. Grade: 4
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Chicago World’s Fair by Illumination
Mailed in 1947, the card has a stamp and full Washington DC postmark. Grade: 1
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Chicago Public Library Bldg.
Unused old and unattributed postcard. Grade: 2
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Chicago, The WGN Studios
Two of these unused, Curteich-Chicago linen cards 1B-H2102 are available, showing one of the U.S.A.’s earliest radio stations. Grades: 2
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Chicago, WGN’s Radio Station Studio Building
Unused, old, and authentic B&W view of this early radio station. The card is stained on both sides and has a small portion of the upper right front corner missing. Grade: 5
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Chicago, Eitel Old Heidelberg
At 14 West Randolph, the 1934 restaurant is long-gone, replaced successively by a variety of commercial establishments. This card is unused and heavily aged but otherwise in good condition. Grade: 3
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Chicago, Masonic Temple
Mailed in 1906 with stamp and full postmark. This card was published by Western News Company of Chicago, Leipzig, and Dresden. Grade: 1
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Chicago, Brookfield Zoo, Giant Panda
Unused C.T. Art-Colortone linen postcard 8A-H404 (and 168), and when you see the odd caption you will know how appearances (and postcards) can deceive. Grade: 1
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Springfield, The Palmer Sanatorium
We understand this sanatorium operated from 1913-1953, for treatment of tuberculosis. The card is unused. Grade: 1
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Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History
Unused, aging, unattributed card. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History
Unused, aging, unattributed card. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Blackstone Theatre, Life with Father
Unused card with one perforated edge, indicating that it had been part of a set. Grade: 1
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Chicago, Lake Shore Drive, from American Airlines
Unused card T151-9. Grade: 1
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Chicago, Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum, Tellurion Clock
Full credit to Wikipedia for this definition: “A tellurion (also spelled tellurian), is a clock, typically of French or Swiss origin, surmounted by a mechanism that depicts how day, night and the seasons are caused by the movement of the Earth on its axis and its orbit around the sun. The clock normally also displays the age of the moon, and the four-year (perpetual) calendar. It is related to the orrery, which illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the solar system in a heliocentric model. The word tellurion derives from the Latin tellus, meaning Earth.” We just thought you wanted to know. Unused sepia card, highly aged. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Art Institute
Unused B&W card with various pencilled notations on the reverse. Grade: 3
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Chicago, Buckingham Fountain
Unused sepia “Real photograph” card from “G.M.G. Publishing Co. (Not Inc.)” of Chicago. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Elk’s Memorial
Two of these unused Cameo Greeting Card Co. linen cards K 2344 are available. Grades: 2
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Chicago, Scene in Garfield Park
Unused V.O. Hammon Pub. Co. card No. 234, heavily aged. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Garfield Park, Amedea Monument
This is a puzzle for us. As part of our routine research on cards, we went to the search engines but after many dead-ends on this one, we gave up. Where is this now? What is its real name? Help! The card: B&W, Rotograph Co. D28050, unused, highly aged. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Lincoln Park, New Refectory, Boathouse and Assembly Rooms
“Refectory” sounds so formal but we learn from the search engine that it just means “dining room,” particularly for a monastery or academic institution–and Lincoln Park is neither of those. The value in the unused postcard is that the front looks very good. But it had been pasted into an album, and the reverse is damaged. Grade: 4
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Chicago, Marshall Field & Co. Grill Room
Elegant dining in the department store, captured in this card mailed in 1910 with stamp and postmark. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Montgomery Ward & Co. Building
Mailed in 1907 with stamp and three postmarks: two from the sending post office, and one from the receiving end. Grade: 2
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Chicago, The Palmer House
Now a Hilton, and called by at least one source the “longest continually operating hotel in North America,” the online reviews are great fun to read. Without doubt the property has been there, staid and solid, as long as anyone can remember. Two unattributed cards are available, one unused (Grade: 1, $1) and one mailed in May 1941 with stamp and postmark and wildly inappropriate message (Grade: 2, $2).
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Chicago, New Postoffice Building
Unused card from V.O. Hammon (No. 71). Grade: 2
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Chicago, Monument and Tomb of Stephen Douglas
Postcard collecting was popular when this card was mailed in 1908, with stamp and postmark, as the message attests. Grade: 3
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Chicago, The Stevens
But now The Hilton Chicago, first opened in 1927 and the third largest in the city as of this writing. Unused B&W card with a quaint notation printed in the postage area: “Hand to Floor Clerk for Free Mailing.” Aging. Grade: 2
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Chicago, Palmer House
Unused Curteich-Chicago C.T. Art-Colortone linen card 0C-H483, published after The Palmer House had become A Hilton Hotel. Grade: 2