Old Route 66 Postcards

February 11, 2011 4:30 AM

I'm looking to buy around 150 postcards from the 50s - 70s that feature attractions from Route 66, or that highlighting Route 66 generally or the states along the way. Are there any stores in either New York City or Washington DC that sell that sort of thing? I've looked around on eBay a little, but I haven't found anything but single postcards here and there -- but I'm hoping to buy them in a lot. Is there somewhere better online I should be looking into?
posted by buriedpaul to Shopping (7 answers total)

I don't know about stores but you could try contacting some of the bigger sellers on ebay and asking if they could put together a listing for you. The cards you want are chromes which generally don't fetch more than a couple bucks each at the most and sometimes aren't worth listing individually.

I used to be a postcard dealer and I would have thousands of cards sitting around in boxes, actually I still do and these guys are probably the same and I'm sure one of them could find what you want pretty easily. Its not uncommon to get requests like this. http://www.playle.com/ is a specialty site for cards to that you could try.

You could also try flee markets or antique shops as sometimes they sell cards and you may find what your looking for or google for a postcard club as a local one may be able to point you in the right direction.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 5:48 AM on February 11, 2011

i think your best luck is gonna be at an antique shop or a flea market... they are too marked up on ebay...
posted by fozzie33 at 5:50 AM on February 11, 2011

maybe by some lots like these, and take your chance...
http://cgi.ebay.com/FABULOUS-U-S-BETTER-POSTCARDS-ALL-VINTAGE-LOT-/220737514372?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3364fb2b84#ht_2457wt_1139

there are more, just ebay vintage postcard lots....
posted by fozzie33 at 5:54 AM on February 11, 2011

You might try looking for books of postcards on Amazon. (if it's not cheating!) I have a book of boring postcards -- but they're not mailable, it's just photos of the fronts of cards.

But there's also, for example, Route 66 Postcards, which look mailable, at least according to the Amazon preview, anyway.
posted by lesli212 at 6:17 AM on February 11, 2011

You could try asking these people:
Joliet Area Historical Museum & Route 66 Visitors Center Gift Shop

I'm pretty sure this is a volunteer-run organization though, so it might take a few calls to find the right person.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:55 AM on February 11, 2011

You've probably thought of this, but just in case you don't know, there's a Route 66 Magazine. I've never looked inside it but I've seen it for sale in bookstores, and I assume they have ads, maybe for companies or individuals that sell things like this. On their website they have a forum, which doesn't seem too active, but they also have links that might get you somewhere, and contact info so you could email them if you get desperate.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 7:31 AM on February 11, 2011

i would check with Ron Warnick @ Route66news.org. He's a pal, you know like mention my name etc, and he can likely steer you in the right direction. I know a couple of people with pretty extensive collections, but I doubt they would want to part them out.

keep in touch on this
posted by timsteil at 8:35 AM on February 11, 2011