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Real Photo | Traditionally antique postcard collectors consider Real Photo postcards as black and white cards printed from a negative. They are usually printed on high quality paper and with proper care the cards still look the same today as the day they were made. In the field of airline postcards there are many originators of real photo postcards. Airline Issued postcards are cards distributed by the airlines and often were given to passengers. They were not printed by the airline but were ordered by the airline for distribution to passengers. There are many local photographers who lived near airports who also made Real Photo postcards for sale at the airport gift shops or stores located near the airport. Many of these were signed by the photographer so modern day collectors could collect all the cards of a particular photographer. In Europe many local photographers would take photos of passengers about to board their plane and print the photos as postcards in small quantities for the people in the photos. There are also many Real Photo postcards that have no caption or photographer name on the card. For early postcards the Real Photo cards are often the most desirable cards. They are often referred to as RPPC. |
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White Border | White Border postcards are a style of postcard unique to the United States and were produced from the mid-1920's to around 1930. There are not many of this type of postcard related to the airlines. Most show early airport scenes. These are probably the least popular type of card with airline collectors, but there are some important cards. These cards are generally not very good quality. They are color lithographic cards, but not of the quality of the best color view lithographic cards made in the 1904-1915 period. They were replaced by the Linen postcards. There are examples of some White Border cards re-issued as Linens. |
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Black and White Lithographic | Both Pan American Airways and United Air Lines began issuing postcards in the Real Photo format. They soon discovered they could save money by changing to black and white lithographic cards and they both did in the mid 1930's. Many other airlines from around the world also issued Black & White Litho postcards. Braniff Airways made an early series printed in blue and white. Northwest also did some early cards with different colors ink. There are many excellent sepia toned cards usually printed on cream colored paper using the lithographic process. There are examples of this common printing method used by airlines all over the world. |
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Linen Postcards | The linen style postcards were first created by the Curt Teich company around 1930. The earliest linen card related to the airlines that I've seen was postmarked 1931. Some of the White Border postcards were also made in the new Linen postcard format. Linen postcards are usually brightly colored cards with a textured surface on the front. The last linen postcard I've seen related to the airlines was postmarked 1958 so they fit in the range of the first 50 years of airline related postcards. They are my favorite type of color postcards. Linen postcards are all made by American postcard manufacturers but a few foreign airlines had cards made for distribution in the U.S. There are many airport related cards including a few from Latin America as well as airline issues. |
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Chrome Era Postcards | All postcards that were not Real Photo cards were printed using some sort of Lithographic Process. The first color film by Kodak was Kodachrome which was invented in 1935. Others later were Agfachrome from Germany and Ektachrome also by Kodak in the U.S. Eventually photos taken with color films were made into postcards. These are collectively called "Chrome" postcards or simply Chromes. They are also made with using a lithographic process. If you use a magnifying glass you will see the image is made up of many little dots as are all lithographic postcards. If you look at a Real Photo postcard you will see more detail when you use a magnifying glass. Although there are hand colored or hand tinted Real Photo postcards there is no such thing as a color Real Photo postcard. Most all the postcards produced today are Chromes. The earliest Chrome postcards related to the airlines, I believe, were made in the early 1940's. This type of postcard is most popular with today's collectors and most all the postcards produced today are chromes. |
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