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Mystery town
So many old real photo cards like this: clear, evocative, no attribution, and no idea where they were. This town must be somewhere in the USA but the card was mailed from Japan to Malaysia in 1996 and has the Japanese stamp and postmark intact. If you can tell us where this is, please do! Grade: 3
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Peaceful setting
G.R. Brown card J54N published in Wisconsin, but the “Peaceful Setting” is not attributed to any specific place. All we know is that’s it’s not on the ocean or in the desert. Mailed in 1992 with two 29-cent stamps. Grade: 1
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In the cotton fields
This old, unmailed card has index number A-1925 but gives no information about publisher or location. What it does have in the message space is a very large block of text in either Japanese or Chinese, along with the English notation of 109 Prince St, N.Y. City. Grade: 3
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Uncle Rastus
From the Detroit Publishing Co., card 8212. No attribution apart from what you can see here. If you do a web search you will see a few references to this specific card, but few if any now for sale–except here. This card is unmailed, and has some corner indents from an album. Also some abrasion along the right edge. Grade: 3
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Underseas boat about to submerge
Unused American Colortype Co. (Chicago) postcard 10, with extensive historical caption on the reverse. Grade: 2
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Homesteaders
Card 89 from the Old West Collectors Series, this is a recent postcard with an old photo. Mailed from Phoenix to Hong Kong in 2002, with three stamps and mostly readable postmark. There’s also postal bar coding and a black marker strip on bottom reverse. And the cow is standing on the hill, not suspended in mid-air. Grade: 4
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Old South recipes
Unused, slightly aging card 925035 (also APS-128) from APS, Inc. It has a recipe printed on the back. Grade: 2
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Yucca wood
A very few of these old cards, made out of pressed yucca wood (brevifolia), can be seen through the search engines, but these are uncommon novelties. This one was not postally used, has aged significantly, has a travel agent’s black rubber stamp on the reverse, and the date 1957 penciled in. Not at all a pristine card, but genuine. Grade: 4
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Fisherman
Generic linen Colourpicture card 18393 (and L-107), unused, but with travel agency rubber stamp on the reverse. Grade: 4
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Mystery city
Apart from slight aging, this unused Colourpicture/Golden West card P7432 from the 1960s could be sold as new. Only problem is, there’s no caption and we don’t know where this appealing-looking location is. Do you? Grade: 1
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Sawmill in the wintertime
Unmailed Mirro-Krome card HSC-24, by H.S. Crocker in California in the 1960s or so. Has a large black rubber stamp marking from a travel agent on the reverse. Grade: 4
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Autumn glory
Two of these unused and unattributed cards are available. They have an index number 359, but that’s it, and they date from roughly the 1960s. Gentle aging on reverse. Grades: 1 ($1 for each)
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Harvest
Nice, unattributed and unused card from the 1960s, though hopefully timeless. Grade: 1
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Grazing
One might guess these cows are contented. Two of these cards are available, unused and unattributed. Grades: 1
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Blossoms
Two of these unused and unattributed cards are available. Grades: 1 ($1 for each)
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Fall Magic
You may have noticed by now that this is in a long series of generic country scenes. How relaxing they are. Unused, unattributed. Grade: 1
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Thanksgiving
Ending our series of these country scenes. The card, like the others, is unused and unattributed as to publisher or location. Mild aging on reverse. Grade: 2
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My heart turned back to Dixie
Different versions of this card appear in various search engines. This one has caption at the bottom. It’s unused, card A-31684 from C.T. American Art and I.F. and Co., of Atlanta. A vintage Black Americana postcard, for sure. Grade: 1
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Unused, pre-stamped
These are what the post office was selling back when it cost 9 cents to mail a domestic postcard. Not sure why the three of these that are available each have an additional four-cent stamp on there, but we suppose you could top them up and use them today–if you wanted to. Grades: 1 ($1 each)
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A high wave
Not sure why, but this is an extraordinarily odd card and we’re not sure why anyone would send it. Well, in this case, they didn’t. It’s unused, old, and uncaptioned apart from what you see on the front. Index no. 1087, published by Post Card Distributing Company. Maybe it’s just what you have been looking for. Grade: 2
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Official three-cent prepaid
When we were little (were we ever?), these were so common. Now we have just this one, unused but a bit fingermarked. Grade: 2
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Sun, Sand, and Surf along the Atlantic Coast
Unused, generic card, probably 1960s but looking as-new. Grade: 1
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Old mill and autumn foliage
Unused Dexter Press card DT-65930, probably 1960s. Grade: 1
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Canoeing on the Mountain Lake
Unused old card, unmarked but for someone’s old pricing pencilled on the reverse. Grade: 3
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Home Sweet Home in Dixieland
Doesn’t say much for Dixieland, does it? Unused old card (40’s?), Grade: 1
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The Old Salt – Along the New England Coast
Unused Dexter Press card 72777, most likely 1960s. Grade: 1
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Old linen error card
What looks like the front of one card is overprinted on the reverse of another, with no colour registration. The reverse is only the orange part of a different card altogether. Purely an error card for oddity collectors. Because it is in more or less the same condition as it was when it came out, we still give it Grade: 1
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Vacation Paradise – Scenic Beauty
Indeed, but this unused E.C. Kropp Co. card 4806-NE1 doesn’t say where the paradise is. Grade: 2
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Dixie Souvenir Folder (folio)
From Curt Teich & Co., which now probably wishes it had not ever issued such an item, came this small (3-1/8″ x 4-1/4″) folio of 16 fold-out photos. With each photo being more offensive than the last, we offer it as an historical relic. Grade: 4
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Cowboy Roping a Steer
From Adolph Selige Publishing Co. of St. Louis and Leipzig, an unused old card, heavily aged. Grade: 3
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The Bush Decision (Ann Telnaes)
You need to be familiar with American politics to understand what the artist was saying here. It’s clever. Card mailed from US in 2012 with 98-cent stamp and postmark. Orange postal barcoding on the front, black on the back. Grade: 3
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Sunbathing in the Southwest
Mailed from Phoenix in 2012 with stamp and mostly readable postmark. Grade: 1
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Greetings from The Ozarks
Well, The Ozarks span more than one state and this large letter card doesn’t specifically identify either of them (though we know it’s Missouri) so maybe the sender had the right idea when she mailed it from Michigan in 1957 with stamp and postmark. Grade: 2
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American Country Store
Unused card. Grade: 1
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America by Rail: Rainier National Park – Northern Pacific North Coast Limited
Reproduction of a poster now in the U.S. Library of Congress, on a 2011 postcard mailed in 2013 with two stamps and postmark. USPS barcoding on both sides also. Grade: 3
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Exotic jungle setting
The caption on this unused Dexter Press card S-44669 seems to go out of its way to avoid saying where this photo was taken. Well, they succeeded. Grade: 3
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Mountain stream in the Redwood Forest
Redwoods are usually in northern California, but the card doesn’t say so specifically, so we are listing it here. Unused, starting to age. Grade: 2
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Twin Rocks on Needle Road
Very old, unused, fading, real photo (“Rise Photo”) card with no other caption. We went to Google. Do you have any idea how many entries you get back when you enter “Twin Rocks”? If you know which ones these are, please let us know. Grade: 3
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A blustery winter day at Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe spans two states, California and Nevada, but the unused card has no caption other than what you see here. It doesn’t look too blustery, but it does look like winter. Grade: 1