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Postcards from their past By BILL KETTLER It took a broken back to help Mike Randall find gold in old postcards. Randall took a job in an antique store after an accident ended his days as a gold miner. Leafing through old postcards, he realized a picture history of the early modern West was there for anyone who took the time to see. Then he discovered people would pay $10 or $20 for an old postcard of the town where they grew up. "I didn't know a postcard was worth two cents until I broke my back," said Randall, 52, who sells old postcards at the Medford Antique Mall. Randall collects and sells "real photo" cards - so named because the images were printed from photographic negatives on photo paper. Photographers made cards for almost every small town in the early 1900s, capturing train depots, libraries and downtowns that have long since vanished. "These cards are like a time machine," said Randall, displaying a century-old view of a city park in Denver. "I guarantee you this is all gone." You don't have to love small-town history to be smitten by the postcard-collecting bug. A quick Internet search for "postcard collecting" turned up more than 1,000 sites around the world. Whatever you like, it's probably been put on postcards, and somebody like you is collecting them, Randall said. Collectors usually specialize in one type of card, such as natural disasters, flowers or ships. Others collect dogs or cats, or cowboys and Indians. Cathy Salmon of Central Point collects old holiday greeting postcards. Joe Franke of Talent has more than 300 lighthouse cards. Dan Lester collects postcards of libraries and more specifically, the Library of Congress, and has more than 10,000 images in his collection. "Just about any kind of card you can imagine, it's out there," said Lester, a Boise, Idaho, librarian who started one of the first Internet sites for postcard collectors 10 years ago. Lester said collectors generally agree that the golden age of postcards began in 1898, when the U.S. Postal Service first authorized the penny postcard, and 1918, the end of World War I. Small towns produced picture postcards of their local train station or library or a ritzy block of houses to show off their town to visitors. At first the back of the card was reserved solely for the address. People had to scribble a message around the image until 1907, when postal officials allowed the back of the card to be divided: half for a message and half for a mailing address. Lester said the hobby continues to grow because it's still inexpensive. Few cards cost more than $10, and many cost $1 or less. The few cards that sell for five figures usually have some other attribute that gives them added value. A card that was written on the Titanic fetched $50,000, but most of its value came from collectors' fascination with Titanic memorabilia. Some people buy cards and sell them to other collectors on Internet auction sites. Gary Ekstrom of Applegate said scarcity determines a card's value. "Scenics aren't worth anything," Ekstrom said. "They're the ones that everybody bought. Nobody wants the ones you bought in Yellowstone. They want the ones you bought in that little town you stopped in on your way to Yellowstone." Randall said postcards as a communication medium have lost some of their appeal in an era of instant e-mail and cheap long-distance service. "I pick up the phone," he said. If you still like to send cards, remember that the Postal Service raised the rate a penny - to 21 cents - on July 1. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.