The conservative aspect of human nature has preserved many items that are of little or no value. Someone who has never seen an antique item may think it has a greater value that the person who has a dozen of them in his attic that he hasn’t been able to get rid of in forty years.
On any given day you can find from 50 to 100,000 post cards listed on the e-Auction website. The quantity of AYPE cards shown is only few hundred and many of those get re-listed. or are shown in Stores as Buy-Now items. Sellers seldom bother to search to see if the card they are selling is already listed or just recently sold. In my opinion the vast majority of these cards are of less value than the “Listing” price in an e-Auction. In search’s I’ve seen the same card listed at 99 cents and $24.99, neither one sold.
The first problem with selling AYPE post cards is that the market is limited. There are only a few active bidders on these items and most live the Pacific Northwest where the Exposition occurred. Next is that all these bidders have collections that are almost complete. They have one of almost everything, all that is needed, in most cases, is an upgrade.
There are three types of cards, Lithograph, Printed, & Real Photo’s (RPPC’s). Only the RPPC’s have a significant value usually a listing of $5 is adequate. If the card is rare and properly described, the collectors will find it.
In real estate they say location, location, location. In old paper items it’s condition, condition, condition. If you have a Portland Post Card showing a view of the Fair Site, chances are that the view has been published by least three “House’s”. One popular Tacoma “Gateway” picture has 43 publishing Variations.
Almost all the lithograph and printed cards on this site, showing AYPE site views are available at local Post Card Shows for $1 for pristine cards. Many look like they were made yesterday. So if you have a “dog” then do yourself a favor, save your listing fee, bite the bullet, and toss it in the circular file with your junk mail.
If you want to know about a particular card, I’ll be glad to answer any questions. Just click here. webmaster@aype.net , give me the Publisher and card number and I’ll tell you the value.
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