Five postcard dealer/collectors displayed an array of an estimated 150,000 postcards during a show held in Tyrone last Saturday.
The Northern Blair County postcard show was sponsored by the Tyrone Area Historical Society. The event was held at the Tyrone Social Center on West 10th Street and included a continental breakfast and luncheon.
The postcards were the collections of Regis Nale of Claysburg; James Luty of Dillsburg; Bob Hollopeter of Punxsatawney; Mike Krafick of Lower Burwell and Adrian Van Leeuwen of Columbus, Ohio.
Mr. Nale noted that through the time period of 1900 through 1920 history was best displayed on the back of real postcards.
“In the early times, the negative was the same size as the postcard, and many old town landmarks, scenes, and events were captured through this method,” said Nale. “Also, photos signed by the photographer made them more valuable.”
Persons can find collectible postcards for every holiday including April Fool’s Day, Labor Day and Halloween. Cards featuring angels are always very popular as well as those with children, animals, flowers, trains and railroad memorabilia.
Found in Mr. Nale’s collection were postcards with the Lord’s Prayer as well as a complete set of the Ten Commandments. Each of the dealers had oodles of postcards for folks to browse through at a leisurely pace.
Some changes through time in postcards date from the pioneer days before 1900, those with the divided back from World War I, the white border placed around postcards date from around 1930, the linen card from World War II times followed by the chrome finish cards which are still used today.
Numerous historical photos of towns and events were among favorites for the many folks to browse through during the day’s event.
