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[pdlloyd]

The semester starts tomorrow, but I've been so busy there's been very little sense of a break. My time has been filled with the second half of an online genealogy class (offered through FutureLearn, taught by instructors associated with the University of Strathclyde, the first MOOC I ever loved, see more on my genealogy blog), visiting my dad in El

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[pdlloyd]

You've touched on the intersection between two of the hats I wear, genealogist and business owner. As a genealogist, I shudder at the thought of family documents leaving family hands and being scattered, yet not all paper ephemera are going to be truly interesting . As a business owner, I sell objects which might, at one time, have been family heirlooms.

I also have to warn you that chances are the postcards you've got are not particularly valuable. While postcards are highly collectible, some estimates claim that they are the third most collected items, topped only by coins and stamps, the actual prices for all but the most treasured are generally pretty low. Our shop on Etsy specializes in Portraits, primarily of show people prior to the 1930s, and RPPCs (Real Photo Post Cards). RPPCs are photos taken of individuals which are printed on a post card backing. The RPPCs we look for are those that strike us as particularly special, in general, those that fall into standard family photos are unlikely to interest us. Oh, and we have also, in the last year branched out into art and illustration postcards.

Since we are so specialized, I don't have a complete grasp of the entire postcard market. I know there are dealers who deal primarily in illustrations which can range from images such as might be found on greeting cards, which typically go for just a few dollars each, to landscapes, portraits, couple's romance, or risque nudes. The artist, illustration style, quality of the printing, and condition of the card all contribute to the value of a specific card. When it comes to photographic postcards, these also come in a wide range of topic, style, rarity, and so on, with some photographers being more collectible than others, and so on. RPPCs are among the rarest, as usually only a few were printed for distribution to family or friends, but the subject or composition of the photograph has to be special to make them of great interest to collectors.

So, all of this is a very long way to say that there really isn't a simple answer to your question. If you feel the postcards you have are of no value to anyone in your family, even a distant relative intent on tracing every line, and you really don't want to keep them anymore, you may be able to find a buyer, but it may also take a bit of a search to find someone for whom your postcards represent interesting stock. In terms of such a search, I would start by trying to find a postcard dealer who is selling items similar to the postcards in your collection.

If you have a way to scan a few representative images (in a pinch you take photos, but we find scans provide a more accurate depiction), and you want me to see if I can find a shop that might be interested, I'd be happy to look at what you've got. Remind me, also, of where you are, at the moment. I don't know if I'll be able to find a buyer near you, so you'll also have to consider whether you are willing to ship the cards to a potential buyer.

ETA last paragraph as Etsy posted before I was finished.