Grading Postcards, Postcard Preservation & Terminology

Grading Postcards
When buying or selling postcards, everyone wants to know the condition of the postcard. This rating system is used for older or antique postcards.

M - Mint: A perfect card just as it comes from the printing press. No marks, bends, or creases. No writing or postmarks. A clean and fresh card. Seldom seen.

NM - Near Mint: Like Mint but very light aging or very slight discoloration from being in an album for many years. Not as sharp or crisp.

EX - Excellent: Like mint in appearance with no bends or creases, or rounded or blunt corners. May be postally used or unused and with writing and postmark only on the address side. A clean, fresh card on the picture side.

VG - Very Good: Corners may be a bit blunt or rounded. Almost undetectable crease or bend that does not detract from overall appearance of the picture side. May have writing or postally used on address side.

G - Good: Corners may be noticeably blunt or rounded with noticeably slight bends or creases. May be postally used or have writing on the address side.

FR - Fair: Card is intact. Excess soil, stains, creases, writing, or cancellation may affect picture. Could be a scarce card that is difficult to find in any condition.

Source: J. L. Mashburn and Postcard Collecting

Preservation of Postcards
Collecting vintage paper creates some special concerns regarding its preservation. If you like to keep antique photo or postcard albums complete as they were originally assembled, you will have even more problems. The real disadvantage is that most early albums were made of inferior green or black construction paper that leaves a residue on the postcard corners. If a top quality album was used, this slick paper didn't move or breathe leaving heavy indents on the postcards called album marks. Cards should be removed from these old albums.

The major enemies of paper are fire, water or humidity, dirt, sunlight, mold, and bugs. If you are investing large sums of money in postcards for your collection or dealer's stock, fireproof file cabinets or a vault is advisable. Collections can be protected in a safety deposit box, which is cool, dry, dark, and theft proof.

Separate each item with acid-free paper, glassine, or Mylar to prevent ink transfer. Stand cards on edge when possible, stacking causes damage to embossing and mechanisms.

Keep humidity at 50-65%; too low and the paper becomes brittle; too high and microorganisms grow. The temperature should be less than 75 degrees. Heat causes faster chemical deterioration.

Sunlight is a great destroyer of paper. If you wish to display your framed collection, do not place items in direct sunlight. Instead, display them on interior walls away from natural light. When having your items framed, be sure to request museum mounting. If the shop doesn't know what you are talking about, select another store.

Nothing should ever be done to paper that cannot be easily undone. If an inventory must be kept, do it in pencil. If the item needs to be secured to album pages use only stamp hinges, photo corners with clear Mylar tops, linen or paper tape. Never affix any kind of tape to the front of your postcards.

Dealers use plastic sleeves and album pages. Collectors should not, unless they are sleeves or pages of archival quality. A dealer's stock is constantly changing and cards are seldom in contact with this Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) storage system for long.

This PVC material will cause chemical damage to antique paper if left for long periods of time. In addition, postcards that are not in humidity controlled environment risk water damage from condensation forming inside of the sleeves. This can be seen at outdoor flea markets. When items in plastic are exposed to the sun, they heat up creating condensation that can cause irreversible water damage.

Before you panic about the storage of your postcards, remember they have survived nearly 100 years in old deteriorating postcard albums. They probably will survive many more years with just a reasonable amount of care, but only archival protection will preserve them indefinitely.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Antique Postcards© by Susan Brown Nicholson