Antique and Vintage Postcards

We are a part of eBay Affiliate Network, and if you make a purchase through the links on our site we earn affiliate commission.
Postcards, sometimes spelled out in two words as "post cards," emerged during the late 19th century as national postal systems began to standardize and improve their delivery methods. America’s first “postal card” was copyrighted by John P....
Continue reading
Postcards, sometimes spelled out in two words as "post cards," emerged during the late 19th century as national postal systems began to standardize and improve their delivery methods. America’s first “postal card” was copyrighted by John P. Carlton in 1861, who sold the rights to H.L. Lipman in Philadelphia. Lipman’s Postal Cards were non-pictorial, meaning their front was designed as a blank space for the sender’s message, and the back was printed with an address line and stamp box. In 1869, Austria launched the first national postal card, known as a “correspondenz karte,” already imprinted with paid postage. The idea quickly caught on throughout Europe, with several other countries debuting their own postcards over the next decade. The U.S. government began selling its first postcards with pre-printed stamps in 1873, and in 1875, the first International Postal Treaty was enacted to allow postcards to be sent beyond a country’s borders. Finally, Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act in 1898, ending the U.S. government’s monopoly on pre-stamped postcards and lowered the standard rate for mailing these cards to a single penny. Postcards boomed in popularity around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly as costs were lowered and improved mail service allowed for deliveries multiple times a day: People could afford to send frequent notes to their families, friends, or neighbors the way we might use text messages today. Previously, souvenir photographs and lithographed cards had been sold to advertise tourist destinations, businesses, holidays, and special events, in formats such as cartes-de-visites, cabinet cards, and stereoviews. In contrast to these, postcards required space for a message on the front side with the back reserved for an address and postage. However, in 1907, the United States Postal Service began allowing postcard backs to be divided, including a message on one half and an address on the other. This shift meant that...
Continue reading

Best of the Web

Tall Tale Postcards
Don't let this one get away from you! This 'unbelievable' collection, from the Wisconsin...
Carthalia
Andreas Praefcke's postcard collection of theatres and concert halls worldwide. Showcases 3700...
Most Watched

Best of the Web

Tall Tale Postcards
Don't let this one get away from you! This 'unbelievable' collection, from the Wisconsin...
Carthalia
Andreas Praefcke's postcard collection of theatres and concert halls worldwide. Showcases 3700...