Of all the postcards that pass through my hands, real photo postcards are the ones I look forward to most. They are photographs, not printed reproductions, and many were made in tiny numbers for a single town, event or family. A printed view of a famous landmark might survive in thousands of copies. A real photo of a crossroads store in a farming town might survive in two.
This guide covers what a real photo postcard is, how to identify one in a few seconds, how to date it, and what makes some of them so valuable to collectors and historians.
What a real photo postcard is
A real photo postcard, usually shortened to RPPC, is a photograph developed directly onto photographic paper that came with a postcard back already printed on it. The image on the front is made of silver or dye in the paper's emulsion, exactly like a snapshot from a darkroom. It wasn't printed with ink on a press.
The format took off after 1902, when Eastman Kodak began selling postcard-backed photographic paper. Soon after, Kodak's folding "postcard" camera made negatives the right size to print directly. Suddenly anyone with a camera could make postcards. Professional photographers traveled from town to town photographing main streets, schools, churches, parades, floods, fires and train wrecks, then sold the cards in local shops within days. Families made cards of their new houses, their babies and their farms, and mailed them to relatives.
The result is an extraordinary photographic record of everyday America, from roughly 1903 through the middle of the century, much of it made by people who never thought of themselves as historians.
How to tell a real photo from a printed card
The quickest test needs only a magnifying glass or a phone camera zoomed in close.
Look for dots
Printed postcards, including the beautiful early lithographs, linens and chromes, are made of ink laid down in patterns. Under magnification you'll see a grid of tiny dots (a halftone screen), a rosette of colored dots, or a grainy stipple. A real photograph has no dot pattern at all. The tones blend smoothly into each other, like a darkroom print, because that's what it is.
Check the surface and the tone
Real photos usually have a photographic sheen, from glossy to soft matte, and a tone that runs from neutral black and white to warm brown (sepia) or a slightly silvery finish. Look at the dark areas at an angle: older real photos sometimes show "silvering," a metallic mirror-like shine in the shadows as the silver in the image slowly migrates to the surface.
Read the back
Turn the card over. Real photo postcards usually have a back printed by the photographic paper maker, with the brand in the stamp box: AZO, VELOX, CYKO, DOPS, EKC, KRUXO, ARTURA, NOKO and others. A printed card usually names a publisher or printer instead. My guide to dating old postcards includes a table of common stamp boxes and their approximate dates.
Look for handwriting in the image
Many photographers scratched or wrote a caption directly on the negative, which prints as white handwriting on the front of the card, usually along the bottom edge. Words like "Main St., looking north" or "Flood of 1913" in white script are a strong sign of a real photo.
Beware of look-alikes
Some publishers printed cards that imitate photographs, and modern reproductions of popular real photos are common. If the card has a dot pattern under magnification, it's printed, however photographic it looks. If the back says "reproduction" or carries a modern printer's mark, it's a copy.
How to date a real photo postcard
Real photos lack many of the publisher's codes that date printed cards, so the clues come from the paper and the picture.
- The stamp box. The paper maker's design in the stamp box changed over the years, which makes it the best single clue. An AZO box with all four corner triangles pointing up, for example, is usually from about 1904 to 1918.
- The back layout. Early real photo backs follow the same postal rules as printed cards, so an undivided back points to the very first years and a divided back to 1907 or later.
- The postmark and stamp. If the card was mailed, the postmark gives the latest possible date.
- The picture. Cars, signs, clothing, telephone poles and buildings narrow it further. A photograph of a disaster, a parade or a building's opening can often be dated to the day from a local newspaper.
Why some real photos are worth so much more
Two real photo postcards can look similar and differ in price by a factor of fifty. Collectors look for a handful of things.
- Small towns. A clear main-street view of a small town is often scarce, because the photographer may have printed only a few dozen. If the town is now tiny or gone, demand from local historians and former residents can be strong.
- Street scenes with life in them. People, wagons, early cars, shop signs and storefronts you can read are worth far more than an empty landscape.
- Interiors and businesses. The inside of a general store, a barber shop, a saloon, a post office or a bank, with its people and its goods, is a prized category.
- Events. Floods, fires, train wrecks, parades, county fairs, circus arrivals and political rallies. These were often photographed and sold within days, in small runs.
- Transportation. Railroad depots with a train in the station, trolleys, early automobiles and gas stations, steamboats and ferries.
- Occupations. Loggers, miners, farm crews, mill workers, fishermen. Pictures of people at work are documentary history.
- Condition and clarity. A sharp, well-exposed image with good contrast on a clean card beats a faded or blurry one every time.
By contrast, unidentified portraits of people in a studio are common and usually inexpensive, unless something unusual is happening in the picture.
Caring for real photo postcards
Photographs are more sensitive than printed cards.
- Keep them out of the light. Light fades the image and yellows the paper. Store cards in a box or album away from windows.
- Use archival sleeves. Choose sleeves made of polypropylene or polyester with no PVC, which can damage photographs over time.
- Avoid heat and damp. Attics and basements are the worst places for old photographs. A closet in the main part of the house is better.
- Handle by the edges. Fingerprints on the emulsion can become permanent.
- Never use tape or glue. Don't trim the edges or try to clean the image with liquids, either. If a card is stuck to an album page, leave it attached rather than tearing it off.
How I list real photo postcards
Real photos get the most care in my listings. I scan both sides at high resolution, so you can zoom into the street and read the shop signs. I identify the stamp box and give a date range based on it, and I describe the image as precisely as I can: the town, the street, the businesses and anything happening in the scene. When a photographer's name or studio is printed on the card, I include it, since some photographers are collected in their own right.
When I can identify the place but not the exact date, I say so. When I can't identify the place at all, the card is listed as "unidentified," with as many clues as I can find, because sometimes a buyer recognizes their hometown in a picture nobody else could place.
Questions people ask about real photo postcards
How many copies of a real photo postcard were made? There's no single answer. A photographer could print as many as they could sell from one negative, so a popular view of a busy town might have run to hundreds of copies, while a photo of a single farm or family gathering might have been printed a handful of times. Event cards, such as a flood or a fire, were often printed in a burst for a few weeks and then never again. That's why so many small-town real photos are scarce today.
Is a real photo postcard one of a kind? Usually not quite, since several prints could come from one negative. But because so few survive, the copy in front of you may be one of very few left, and sometimes the only one anyone knows of.
Can a real photo be a later reprint? Yes. Some photographers reprinted popular views for years, and modern copies are made by photographing an old card. A later copy of an old photo tends to be less sharp, with blocked-up shadows and washed-out highlights, and it may be on paper with a later stamp box design or none at all. Comparing the paper, the stamp box and the sharpness usually tells the story.
Why are some real photos brown and others black and white? The tone depends on the paper, the developer and any toning bath the photographer used. Warm brown sepia tones were popular in the early years, and they also tend to last well. Neither tone is better, though a rich, even tone in either is a sign of a well-made print.
Should I remove a real photo from an old album? If it comes free easily, yes, store it in an archival sleeve. If it's glued down, leave it in place. Pulling it off can tear the back or crack the emulsion, and an intact album page is better than a damaged card.
The appeal, in one card
Picture a sepia real photo of a dirt main street around 1910. Two horses stand at a hitching rail, a man in shirtsleeves leans in a store doorway, and a hand-painted sign reads "Hardware & Implements." Someone wrote "Our town" on the negative in white script. On the back is an AZO stamp box with four triangles pointing up, and a pencil note: "This is where I trade. Come see us this summer."
No other copy of that exact picture may exist. That is why real photo postcards are worth collecting, and why I always hope the next box holds one.