Unused Plastichrome card CM0096, aging somewhat.  Grade: 2

This Portland Post Card Co. card was mailed in 1909 with stamp and partial postmark.  For once, a message with clear, easy-to-read handwriting!  Corner abrasions.  Grade: 3

Unused local card 36754.  Grade: 1

The (unnamed) lighthouse is in there, but you need to look hard for it.  Unused Dexter Press ard 29471-B (and C-390) at Cape Flattery, the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Grade: 1

Mailed in 2012 with $1.05 stamp and mostly readable postmark.  Minor abrasion on the reverse edge.  Grade: 2

A case study in how to make smoke look like clouds, or vice versa.  Unused, undivided back card, heavily aged.  Grade: 3

Over the years, Union Oil Company postcards came out in a series (“See the West with 76 Gasoline”) depicting western U.S.A. landmarks and activities.  This is No. 15 in the “Natural Color Scenes of the West,” from 1940.  Two cards are available.  One is unused (Grade: 1, $5) and the other is not postally used but full of pencilled sums and numbers on the reverse (Grade: 4, $1).

Over the years, Union Oil Company of California issued a series of cards (“See the Old West this year with 76 Gasoline”) (the slogan varies over time) depicting western U.S.A. landmarks.  This card, dated 1941, is one of those.  Though unused, it has been heavily handled over the years–and shows it.  Grade: 4

It’s “Islands” on the front, and “Island” on the back of this card mailed in 2013 with two stamps and readable postmark.  Airmail sticker affixed.  Grade: 2

The unused card dates at some point during the second World War, because it has this caption on the back:  “This card is furnished for convenience of men in the armed services by the Washington State Progress Commission … Write the Commission for any information desired about the state or for Victory File for use in planning your first after-war vacation.”  Aged and handled over the years, though still Grade: 2.

The card doesn’t specifically say Clallam County; we had to look that up.  No. 79 in the large series of cards put out by Union Oil Company of California, dated 1939, this is unused but had been in an album so there are remnants of the page it was on at each corner of the back.  Grade: 4

We were idly curious why Queen Marie had an entire gallery dedicated to her at this (arguably) obscure location, so we went to Wikipedia.  Describing the entire collection as “eclectic,” Wikipedia explains everything, including this:  “During her 1926 visit for the museum’s dedication, Queen Marie of Romania gave Maryhill more than 100 objects. These included personal items, Romanian folk objects, Russian icons and diverse textiles. That same year, Queen Marie’s oldest daughter Elisabetha, the former Queen Consort of Greece, gave the museum a collection of small Tanagra figurines and a number of ancient Cypriot amphorae. A year earlier, the museum had received its very first donation—three silver filigree objects—from Queen Marie’s second daughter, Marie, Queen Consort of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.”  So now you know WHAT, we just don’t know WHY.  Unused card.  Grade: 3

An earlier entry explains the incongrous pairing of these two.  Unused real-photo card of the A.B. Spreckels Collection in the Maryhill Museum of Fine Arts.  Grade: 2

This unused Plastichrome card P16391 is fully preprinted in the message area.  It was typically sent to advise a customer that their order had shipped.  Grade: 1

Unused Plastichrome card P6834.  Grade: 1

Unused Plastichrome card P45538 with a perforated lower edge, so it was probably part of a set.  Aging.  Grade: 3

Unused Plastichrome card P26816 of a “majestic peak, (elevation 5,639 feet) as viewed from Stevens Pass Highway, … the most ruggedly beautiful in the Cascades.”  Odd that we had never heard of it until we saw this card.  Grade: 2

Mailed in 1947, with stamp and full postmark.  Grade: 1

Over the years, Union Oil Company of California issued a series of cards (“See the West with 76 Gasoline”) depicting western U.S.A. landmarks.  Quite a few are scattered around in our website.  This unused card is one of those, from 1940.  Grade: 1

Not postally used, but with a message pencilled into the message area.  The card has a large Union Pacific Railroad name and logo on the back.  Grade: 4