How we grade and describe postcards:
At the Postcard Emporium, we strive to provide you with both an accurate description and clear images of each postcard for sale on our site.
As is often the case with postcards that do not have a stamp cancel on them, nor a date written on them by the original sender, we can only estimate the year of the card based on a number of features. You will often see a date range rather than a single year.
Our grading system is based on a two-part visual inspection of each card.
After inspecting the postcard by eye, we take a high quality scan and carefully look at edges, corners, front image and the back of each card. We are looking for damaged, bent or torn corners, creases and other damage as well as dirt and any other debris which may be present.
*When pricing our postcards, we do not take into consideration whether or not the postcard has been used (i.e., sent through the mail.) For postcards of higher values, we will make special note of this. We provide an image of the back of each postcard so you can verify whether or not it has been used.*
Our grading system is as follows:
- Mint: These postcards look like they were printed yesterday! It is very rare to find vintage cards in this condition.
- Near mint: The card has very little no damage. Edges and corners are straight, untorn without wear or creases.
- Excellent: The card is in excellent condition but shows slight imperfections such as minimally worn corners, yellowing/aging and may have small imperfections on the image or on the back.
- Good: The card is considered good if there is some amount of edge/corner wear, may have small creases, noticeable amounts of color degradation (where applicable) and may be bowed.
- Fair: Noticeable amounts of edge/corner wear, small tears, minor to severe creasing, discoloration or debris/stains.
- Poor: Postcard has a high degree of damage. Corners may be torn off, small holes or tears in the body, frayed edges and other damages.
- There will be times when you may see two grades on a card separated by a ” -> “. This means that we had a difficult time deciding which grade the card deserves and felt that it fell somewhere between the two.
While we try our best to give a fair and accurate grade to each card, it is your responsibility to carefully look at the images provided before making a purchase.
Thank you for visiting the Postcard Emporium. We sincerely hope you find the perfect card for your collection!