The short answer
Most old postcards are worth very little — a dollar or two, sometimes less. A small minority are genuinely valuable, and the difference comes down to a handful of understandable factors: age, rarity, subject, condition, and the marks of the mail that carried them. This guide explains those factors honestly, and what to do if you have a drawer of old cards.
What makes a postcard valuable
Collectors look at five things. Age matters, though it is rarely enough on its own — a card from the early twentieth century is common; a card from the very beginning of the postcard era is not. Rarity matters more: a card that few examples survive of is worth more than a common view of the same town. Subject matters a great deal — collectors pay most for certain themes, from holiday greetings and advertising to real-photo cards of everyday life. Condition decides the final step: creases, writing on the front, and damaged corners all cut value. And the postmark, stamp, and publisher can make an ordinary card collectible all on their own.
The great burst of postcard production in the early twentieth century is why so many old cards survive today — which is precisely why most are common.
The collecting name
The study and collecting of postcards has its own name: deltiology, from the Greek for a small writing tablet, and collectors are called deltiologists. It is one of the most popular paper collectibles, which is why value guides and auction sites have such deep records to compare against.
How to find what yours is worth
The honest way to value a card is to compare what similar cards have actually sold for, not what sellers are asking. Auction and marketplace sites such as eBay and Delcampe keep searchable sold listings, and matching your card by publisher, subject, and postmark will give you a realistic range. No online description can tell you the value of your specific card better than comparing real sales.
The honest difference
Old Route Retro sits on one side of that world: every card in the atlas is new, printed in a vintage style and filed by the place it shows. The Alabama route gives you the look of an old travel card without the age — the cards are for sending, collecting as art, and enjoying, not for resale as antiques. If a genuinely old card comes your way, our guide to dating postcards explains how to read its age, and our guide to vintage-style versus vintage keeps the difference straight.
Which old postcards are valuable?
The valuable minority tends to share a few traits: genuine age, scarcity, an interesting subject, and good condition. Real-photo cards, advertising cards, and cards with notable postmarks or stamps are the kinds collectors seek out. A common twentieth-century view card in worn condition is usually worth little — which is the honest expectation for most old postcards.
How can I tell if a postcard is valuable?
Look at the publisher, the subject, the postmark and stamp, whether the image is a real photograph, and the condition — then compare with actual sold listings for similar cards. If the card is genuinely old, dating it is the first step: our guide to dating postcards walks through the clues on the back, the stamp, and the image.
What is postcard collecting called?
Postcard collecting is called deltiology, and a collector is a deltiologist. Because postcards have been produced in enormous numbers for well over a century, the collecting world has deep records and active communities — which makes honest comparison the best value tool of all.