Iowa – Global Postcard Sales

Showing 1–40 of 75 postcards

Church
This turn-of-20th-century real photo card went through a fire, judging from smoke damage to reverse. Based on its history, we think it’s a Lutheran church in either Iowa or Norway. Do you know? No damage to photo on front. Grade: 4

Code: 10116001
Price: $3.00
Randall, note
Though the slip of paper with the note that had been in the little attached envelope is long gone, the card itself has a stamp and appears to have been mailed in 1908–the postmark is mostly legible. It’s a lovely old card. Grade: 2

Code: 10116002
Price: $8.50
Tama, Main Street
We believe the card itself is newer than the picture, but not by that much, as it was mailed in 1970 (somewhat indistinct postmark) with a 6-cent Roosevelt stamp. Only a person from Iowa could write such a clever message. Minor postal battering on lower right corner. Grade: 2

Code: 10116003
Price: $3.00
Council Bluffs, General Dodge house
And who was General Dodge, you ask? This house was built in 1869 by Civil War General and Union Pacific railroad builder Grenville M. Dodge. So there. The card is unused, Dexter press DT-5046-C dating from 1965, great on the front and beginning to age on the back. Grade: 2

Code: 10116004
Price: $1.00
Amana, General Store
Mailed in 1982 with a fully legible Homestead, IA postmark, two 20-cent stamps and postal service airmail sticker affixed. The prototypical middle American postcard–except that it was mailed to Hong Kong! Grade: 1

Code: 10116005
Price: $2.00
Des Moines, Union Park
Although this card was mailed in the early 1900s, and the 1-cent stamp is still there, a huge piece of the upper right corner is not. Grade: 5

Code: 10116006
Price: $1.00
Story City, carousel
Unused card of this restored 1913 Herschell-Spillman carousel. If you Google this, you will find all sorts of nifty information, including the sense that nobody really knows how to spell Mr. Herschell’s name, including on the card itself. No big deal. Grade: 1

Code: 10116007
Price: $2.00
Roland, east side of Main Street
This unused card comes from Iowa Calendar Co. of Marshalltown, and is one of the very, very few cards on this site where we will let sentiment interfere with reality. Roland is a charming small town even now, utterly rich with an exceptionally colourful past for such a remote place. Go, visit, and buy lefse in the grocery store. What a town. Grade: 2

Code: 10116008
Price: $14.00
Burlington, Hotel Burlington
Unused Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art-Colortone” card 3B-H1473 from the 1950s or earlier, though a travel agency rubber stamp on the reverse and mild staining/mottling on both sides. Grade: 4

Code: 10116009
Price: $2.50
Osceola, Elms Plaza Motel
Alas, the motel now exists in Google only as postcards. We have two. Both are unused, though each has a travel agent’s large rubber stamp in the address section, while one has the date “April 19, 1958” inked in the message section. Grades: 4

Code: 10116010
Price: $4.00
Sioux City, Memorial Park Cemetery, Singing Tower
Unused Dexter Press “Dextone” card 56203 (296-D-9), rounded corners, published by General Tobacco Co. for their customers. Grade: 2

Code: 10116011
Price: $1.00
Sioux City, Memorial Park Cemetery, Garden of Memories
Unused Dexter Press “Dextone” card 56204 (296-D-10), rounded corners, published by General Tobacco Co. for their customers. Grade: 2

Code: 10116012
Price: $1.00
Council Bluffs, Golden Spike
Unused Curteich-Chicago card OB340-N, aged and with inked initials near the postage area. The caption tells us: “Rearing its head 56 feet into the air is this huge concrete replica of a railroad spike, located at the zero-zero mile post of the Union Pacific …” Grade: 3

Code: 10116013
Price: $3.00
Des Moines, Hotel Savery lobby
Very old, unused but very heavily handled E.C. Kropp card 1791N. We’ve not been in Des Moines lately, but the successor to this hotel is still there, according to Google. Grade: 3-

Code: 10116014
Price: $5.00
Dubuque, Greetings, and grave of Julian Dubuque
Unused Dexter Press card 58293-B. An odd combination, Greetings over a tomb, but who are we to say … The card is fading and heavily aged (on the reverse). Grade: 4

Code: 10116015
Price: $3.00
Marshalltown
Unused Scenic Art Color Card 9065G, which we would put into the “what were they thinking?” category, if we had such a category. We have been to Marshalltown, we actually had distant ties there, it’s a lovely small town, and deserves nicer representation than this–no matter how handsome those cattle are. Grade: 3

Code: 10116016
Price: $2.00
Waterloo, Black Hawk National Bank
Unused B&W card, unattributed. Grade: 3

Code: 10116017
Price: $5.00
Shenandoah, Number Ten Trial Gardens, Henry Field Seed Co.
Unused card published by the Henry Field Seed Co. itself. The card number is 7836 N. With only the lightest of irony, we wonder what the 7835 preceding cards showed. Grade: 3

Code: 10116018
Price: $2.00
Indianola, Simpson College
Not that the card is in great condition (see the postmark on the scan) but it does have five stamps and full San Francisco postmark. Mailed in 1987. Grade: 4

Code: 10116019
Price: $4.00
Council Bluffs, Bluffs Run Casino
The postmark is not clear on when this was mailed, but it was at the time of 32-cent stamps. Upper edge of the card is perforated, so it had been part of a sheet or set. Grade: 2

Code: 10116020
Price: $1.00
West Bend, Christmas Chapel
Unused card from St. Peter and Paul’s Catholic Church. Grade: 2

Code: 10116021
Price: $1.00
Des Moines, Brown Hotel
Unused card of a hotel razed long ago. Grade: 2

Code: 10116022
Price: $4.00
Des Moines, Younker Brothers, Tea Room Lounge
This one, we really wanted to Google since the setting is so ornate. If you come from Iowa you probably know this, but we learned that Younker Brothers’ first store opened in 1874; the original Tea Room opened in 1913 and was replaced in 1927. (That helps date the card?) As well, this building had the first escalator in Iowa–in 1939. The store closed in 2005. The building is apparently still there, though. Grade: 2

Code: 10116023
Price: $2.00
Des Moines, LOOK Building
If you grew up in the USA in the 1950s, your family most likely had copies of LOOK along with LIFE and some other magazines on the living room table. This card has its own story. It was mailed with pre-printed Bulk Rate postage to new subscribers, informing them when they could expect to receive their first issue. This card does that, and has the recipient’s address stencilled in the address area. Grade: 2

Code: 10116024
Price: $6.00
Cedar Falls, Iowa State Teachers College, Gymnasium
Unused E.C. Kropp card 28832. Grade: 2

Code: 10116025
Price: $1.00
Charles City, The Little Brown Church in the Vale
A word of explanation about this unused, real photo card: The caption on the front, which is really hard to read as it is white-on-white, says: “The Little Brown Church in the Vale Built 1860-4-Near Charles City – IA.” Its address now is Nashua, Iowa. Grade: 1

Code: 10116026
Price: $6.00
“In All That Is Good, Iowa Affords the Best”
This is one of Iowa’s iconic old cards, well-referenced. Among the captions on the reverse, this: “Iowa, Her Affections Like The Rivers Of Her Borders, Flow To An Inseparable Union”. Three of these unused linen cards PB-4926 are available, similarly aged. Grades: 2

Code: 10116027
Price: $3.00
Amana, Amana Home children’s room
Unused Dexter Press card 8207-B (and A12). Grade: 2

Code: 10116028
Price: $1.00
Des Moines, U.S. Government Veterans’ Hospital
The front of this C.T. Art-Colortone linen card 4A-H731 is OK but the reverse is written, dated (1941), and had been pasted in an album. Grade: 5

Code: 10116029
Price: $0.50
Des Moines, Iowa State Capitol
Nicely preserved B&W card mailed in 1907 with stamp and Des Moines postmark. Some album marks (faint) and various mottling. Grade: 3

Code: 10116030
Price: $6.00
Des Moines, Iowa State Capitol (red caption)
Unused. Grade: 3

Code: 10116031
Price: $4.00
West Branch, Herbert Hoover Library
Not quite being old enough to remember this U.S. President when he was in office, we do remember the theme song of a popular American TV show, All in the Family, that included the words: “Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.” This card is as close as we are going to get. Mailed in 1981 with 12-cent stamp and postmark. Grade: 3

Code: 10116032
Price: $1.00
Des Moines, Hyperion Club, Swimming Pool and Club House
Now the Hyperion Field Club, with address in Johnston instead of Des Moines, it’s still there, for more than 100 years. They must be doing something right! This linen card, with stamp, full Omaha postmark, and some ink transfer on the front, was mailed in 1943. The nation was at war and the message reflects it. Grade: 3

Code: 10116033
Price: $3.00
Kalona Heritage
Mailed in 2012 with three stamps and illegible postmark, along with one extra small green sticker on the reverse. Postmark ink transfer on the front. Grade: 4

Code: 10116034
Price: $1.00
Covered Bridges of Iowa
Unused Plastichrome card P319334. Such bridges are not only in New England. Grade: 1

Code: 10116035
Price: $2.00
Davenport, Hotel Blackhawk Sunday Smorgasbord
If we could go there now, and have this meal at the prices shown in the caption, we would be on a plane tomorrow. Unused card. Grade: 1

Code: 10116036
Price: $1.00
Dubuque, Mississippi River view from Mt. Carmel
Unused card. Grade: 1

Code: 10116037
Price: $1.00
Dubuque, Mt. Carmel Winter Scene
Unused card. Grade: 1

Code: 10116038
Price: $1.00
Council Bluffs, Memorial to Mrs. G. M. Dodge
Unused Curteich-Chicago linen card 91414-N. Grade: 2

Code: 10116039
Price: $0.50
Council Bluffs, Fairmount Park
Unused Curteich-Chicago card 3B423-N. Grade: 2

Code: 10116040
Price: $0.50

Showing 1–40 of 75 postcards