DATING VINTAGE HAND-COLORED REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS: A REVIEW AND APPLIED STUDY.

Picture postcards with image captions help determine the precise message of photographs. In view of that, they are considered valuable and informative historical documents depicting many aspects of our rich past and culture. Postcards were developed through the last decades of the 19th century. This study is dedicated to real photo postcards. This type of postcards began to be produced from the early 1900s. Collecting postcard was an international hobby in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, resulting in the existence of a large number of valuable postcard collections around the world. Accordingly, this research aims to study the historical and technical background of postcards and photography and how they relate to each other; to use this information in the dating of an unknown hand-colored photo postcard. This study will provide non-professionals with simple guidelines that will help them date their collections, particularly in regions where professional help is not always available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]