Featured Recent Estate Auction Gamble: Box Lot Of Postcards & Ephemera

In the Finds Thread I alluded that I had recently purchased a box of antique postcards and other ephemera at an estate auction for $45. The estate auction was fairly crowded and I didn't get the opportunity to preview the box as much as I would have liked and also didn't really want to draw too much unneeded attention to it. In my cursory glance I didn't see any particularly nice or valuable cards, just bread and butter holiday greetings cards and the like with very few "place" based cards with buildings on them. I did however notice that almost all of the cards were old, pre-1920s postcards and that there were approximately 200 cards in the box.

I ended up winning the bid without a lot of competition, only one opposing bidder, ending up at the winning bid of $45. I was quite pleased at this outcome since I was willing to continue bidding up until $70 due to the fact that the postcards were older. I estimate there is around 200 to 250 postcards in the lot and I pulled 81 keepers for my collection. I expect I will eventually sell the rest someday. There was also some other neat goodies in the box including a neat 1909 summary of the events of the Coshocton, OH county fair, quite a few advertising/trade cards, a couple of old photographs, two pieces of vintage doll clothing, and a bunch of Coca-Cola nature trading cards.

Here are some of the postcards I thought were keepers. I will need to post them in several posts due to the 10 attachment limit.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the lot. I am fairly happy with them, doesn't get a lot cheaper then 22 cents a card for older assortments of postcards. I think the Halloween & Christmas cards alone probably "pay" for the lot.

 

Some of the other items:

 

What a marvelous selection, Joe! Well done!

 

What fun! That looks like a terrific purchase.

 

I wonder how the reception committee for the sailors worked out.

 

Thank you for sharing these, Joe. I think you did great for $40. The Halloween ones alone. Really fun to see what you got!

 

I found the Leap Year cards the most interesting. I've never heard of any customs associated with it. Looks like the ladies can propose to the gents; not sure if it's all year or Leap Day only. Great selection of ephemeral treasures.

 

Nice score, Joe!

 

@Bronwen

Leap Day. According to Irish traditions, women are allowed to propose to their suitors on this day that only comes once every four years.

 

Oh, those Irish! Darn! Missed it this year. Missed a lot of things this year.

 

The cat! The one that says “WHY DON’T YOU WRITE”! Not only is it proof that cat memes are older than we think, but it mirrors my constant plea to friends (I love writing postcards!) This is a great assortment, thank you so much for sharing!

 

What a great assortment of old and very interesting postcards ... GREAT BUY, WELL DONE !!!! .... Joy.

 

Now I've got the Simon & Garfunkel song stuck in my head.

 

Lol, great pull (and I haven’t listened to it in ages, either!)

 

Woooo! I want that Henry toad card! O_O

 

I had the same reaction/thought. Cats are awesome!