I've long been a fan of vintage postcards, but not always the most expensive or ultra rare examples. The cards I tend to fancy are colorful holiday cards from the early 1900s.

Of course, some of the cards I seek do happen to be pricey, especially the Halloween cards and a few of the ones I've gathered that depict Santa Claus in the illustration. Depending on the decoration, who produced the card and whether or not it's signed by the artist, both of these types of cards can be worth anywhere from $5-100 dollars in good condition.

But, most of the cards I like don't cost nearly as much. You can pick up some very pretty birthday cards, Easter cards, Valentines and Happy New Year greetings for as little as a dollar or two.

Sure, there have been postcard collectors guides on the market for decades now, but they had a tendency to cover rarities like hold-to-light cards, that actually look like they glow when held to a light source, or cards featuring controversial topics, or those decorated with silk. You just don't run across these kinds of fancy cards every day.

What you do run across with regularity are good old-fashioned holiday cards. Most every antique shop or collectibles show holds a box to browse, sometimes you'll be fortunate enough to find a whole booth dedicated to cards with lots of holiday examples to shop through.

As the Reeds show in their new reference book, these cards are colorful, the illustrations can be quite captivating and reading the writing on the backs can transport you to another era with a little imagination. You even get an introduction to cards produced to celebrate more obscure holidays like President's Day and St. Patrick's Day.

The only real complaint I had about this book was the lack of depth in the areas in which I specialize, Halloween and Santa Claus. It would have been nice to see a few more pages devoted to these holidays and a few more hard-to-find examples shown there.

On the other hand, I did find the realistic prices listed in this book to be a bonus, especially for budding collectors. Not all collectibles reference guides serve as an accurate gauge of what collectors might expect to pay in the retail market.

When out looking for vintage holiday cards, keep an eye out for those published by Raphael Tuck and Sons. These artistic cards have a following among collectors, as do artist signed cards by Ellen Clapsaddle, H.B. Griggs, Frances Brundage and Mary Evans Price, later of Fisher-Price toy fame, according to the Reeds.

Some people focus on collecting cards featuring cats, dogs, roses, children and a number of other illustrations popular in the early 20th century. Collecting holiday cards offers oodles of options when it comes to theme collecting.

While condition does play a part in pricing vintage cards, they don't have to be absolutely perfect to be appealing. Yes, damage like a major crease or significant tear should be taken into consideration when a card is priced.

But, things like rounded corners and light wear don't really detract from displaying a card in your home or adding it to a collection. In fact, for paper items in the 100 year-old neighborhood, most old greeting postcards are in remarkably good condition.

The reason for this amazing preservation is that most of these cards resided in postcard albums before being discovered by today's antiques dealers. Knowing that these cards were first collected in the Edwardian homes where our great-grandparents grew up adds another interesting facet to collecting them today.

Book Scan by Pamela Wiggins

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