Uncategorised Austro-Hungarian Postcards

[baby_iwina]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum but have a few enquires to whom has time to reply to them. I have a collection of 18 postcards from my great great uncle starting with 1907 up till 1931, which according to my mother who translated them most are love letters to his wifes and mistresses, and some are between friends and acquaintances. I can follow these cards and where they came from, and most are from Vienna, Paris, Bucharest, Basarabia (which is now the Moldavian Republic) and what now is Ukraine (Austro-Hungarian Empire). My mother who is Ukrainian managed to translate some of the words, but the rest are a jumble between romanian, Ukrainian, russian and german.

The postcards are very beautiful, and all of them have women photographed on them. Some of them are nudes, and those are the earlier ones (I heard my great great uncle was a real lady's man when he was young). Some of them are from the Military Hospital in Vienna where he writes about his wounds he got in the war (had three fingers blown off and his arm was left paralysed).

My question is, how much can they be worth? I live in England and I presume maybe in this part of Europe they might not be of such great interest. I can attach photo's of the postcards if anyone is willing to help. Also, the postcards have provenance seeing as records of the people who wrote them are still kept well in the family and can confirm the story and the lives of their authors. Also there is kept a correspondence from that time, who tells the life's story of the postcards sender and receiver.

To me they are very precious because they offer a glimpse in the life of ordinary people when Europe kept shifting and changing in what it is today.

Thank you for your time and hope I get a reply soon.

[Gordon Craig]

Baby_iwina,

I am not a post card collector so it is difficult for me to say if these cards have any value outside of the family. If they showed uniforms or were about military life etc. they would have value to collectors on this forum. The ones from the military hospital re the wounds might be of some interest. Like any collectible, you need to find someone with an interest in the subject matter of the cards. You have come to the correct form to find that interested person. I would suggest posting pictures of the cards, which is usually what gets a response, but I am not sure if the GMIC would react well to nude photos. I'll ask the other moderators about that.

Regards,

Gordon

[Trooper_D]

baby_iwana

I collect postcards from the Austro-Hungarian period but only with a military theme (no nudes!). I advise you to look at www.delcampe.net, which is a website on which people sell postcards, either by auction or for a fixed price. They have a category for vintage nudes - or so I am told - and you will quickly get an understanding of the value of yours. Unfortunately, I think that you will find they are of more value to your family, for sentimental reasons, than to collectors. A quick look at the delcampe site suggests that 10-15 euros would be what you could expect but I encourage you to search the site to find one similar to yours to get a better idea.

Good luck.

Edited February 4, 2013 by Trooper_D