Happy New Year Everyone!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Todd

WDCS29I wanted to put up a quick post to wish everyone a Happy New Year!  Hopefully this will be a good year for this site.  I have a few ideas that I am working now that I think will really enhance the experience here.  It will involve a little more “in-depth” html and css coding, but when it’s done the site should be even more useful to the collector of these cards.

In the meantime, if you are in the San Francisco Bay area, don’t forget that there is a postcard show this weekend in the City.  I will be headed up there on Saturday if anyone is interested in meeting up.

Until next time…

P.S. A blog post just looks wrong without a picture…shown here is a fantastic winter themed Donald Duck cover from 1943.  For more on this Walt Kelly covered book,  click here.

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Checklist Update

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Todd

Hi…just a quick note to say that the “Checklist” page has been updated.  It is the first step toward making a more complete and comprehensive checklist of the cards.  Variants are being included, so if you are collecting those, hopefully this will be a resource for you (and you will likely see stuff that has been missed).

So…check it out, let me know what you think!

Until next time…

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More Variants – Beaver Valley NT0321

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Todd

NT321_Beaver_ValleyI have been talking with a few collectors lately about how to proceed with the site now that the “easy” work of putting up the checklist and price guide are complete. As you know, these lists just represent what is in the Nickel Tour book.  But there are many variant cards, and even a few other non-variant cards, that are not mentioned NT321_Beaver_Valley_0001in the book.  So, the obvious thing to do is to start to add those cards to this site to make it more complete.

Today, as a teaser, I will put a card that I have not seen the variant of until I was recently going through my collection.  NT0321 is of the Beaver Valley diorama which was part of the Mine Train NT0321_variants_0001experience.  I have blogged on this card before, but at that time I was unaware that there was a variant that existed.  This is a pretty classic variant, with text font and location being slightly different on the back of the card…you see it a lot.  But this is also a fairly uncommon card in either form.

Anyway…I will start to get this information up on the site over the next few weeks/months (yes, I am afraid it will probably take a while!).  Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any variants of your own that you want to share…many thanks to those of you that already have.

Until next time…

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The Price Guide is Complete! (well, sort of)

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Todd

As of tonight, I have completed the price guide for all of the post cards in the Nickel Tour!  That’s pretty exciting news, I think.  If you have a copy of the Nickel Tour, or even if you do not, you can use a copy of the checklist along with the price guide to help you build your collection.

Of course…this is not the end of the price guides development.  It is, as I have said before, a living document, and will change as time goes on.  I will be adding to it cards that are not in the Nickel Tour when I can…but I wll probably wait a while.  What NT numbers would be assigned??  If you have any thoughts on that, please let me know.  And thanks again to those who offered suggestions along the way to this mini-milestone…your help was most appreciated!

Until next time…

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Hi-Lites with Envelope

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Todd

Disneyland Hi-Lites booklets are pretty prevalent on eBay.  At any given time, you will find them for sale individually or part of a lot.  Until recently though, I had not seen one for sale with the original envelope.

This lot came up a week or so ago and it was cheap…$5.99 plus shipping.  There are variants of the booklet.  This booklet actually has “To:” and “From:” space on the back panel and a space for a stamp.  Another one I have is blank on the back.  The photos inside each booklet are different as well.  I seem to recall seeing a site where the variants of these were called out, but I can’t find it now.

As an aside…I suspect this was sold in the park in the early 1960’s.  The other cards I got with this lot were from around that time.

Until next time…

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New NT0840 Variant – Sleeping Beauty’s Castle

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Todd

I don’t seek out variant cards on purpose, but occasionally they do just show up in batches that I purchase.  I recently bought several groups of cards on eBay that had some rather rare cards in them.  Along with those cards came a number of other cards that I thought were more common.  Many of these I ended up needing and a couple were in fact variants of cards I already had.

Among the pile though was this card…a variant of NT0840 that is not shown on Ken Eslick’s site.  I figure if it is not there, then it must be rather rare.  Can you pick out the difference?  Usually the variations have to do with the text font or perhaps the “Inc.” is not appended to “Disneyland” in the vertical text.  But in this case…the words “The Magic Kingdom” are just not present.  I have no idea how this would have happened…but, voila, there it is.

Anyway…I would be curious to know if any of you out there have one, or both of these cards.

Until next time…

Blogging here and at Sundry Collectibles on comic books, vintage airline postcards, and other stuff!

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An Unknown Jumbo J-3 – Entrance to Disneyland

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Todd

Well, this card isn’t exactly unknown…I have seen it on other sites, but it is not in the Nickel Tour anyway.  The card showed up on eBay the other day and I made an offer and it was accepted.  It has a few small pin holes, but I had never seen one of these for sale before, so I figured I would take a chance.

Looking at the card, there are many clues as to when this picture was taken.  The clock has a TIMEX branding on it.  The station still has the Santa Fe branding.  The posters on display at the entrance below are for the Stage Coach ride in Frontierland, the Jungle Cruise, the Rocket to the Moon, the Mad Tea Party, Space Station X-1, and Tom Sawyer’s Island.  Finally, the Disneyland sign says population 5,000,000.

Space Station X-1 closed in February of 1960 after being around from opening day, and the wagons closed either in late 1959 or perhaps early 1960…all the other attractions were open long after that.  Finding when the TIMEX logo was removed from the clock tower is not readily apparent to me after a brief internet search.  Anyone have any answers to that one??  Or…how long did the population 5,000,000 sign last and when was it there??

Anyway…a cool card…and rare indeed.

Until next time…

Blogging here and at Sundry Collectibles on comic books, vintage airline postcards, and other stuff!

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August 1955 – “A Dream World” – NT0018

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Todd

I have mentioned before the fun of collecting used Disneyland postcards.  They can say anything you can imagine…or not imagine…but there it is on the card.  On August 17, 1955, Disneyland was 4 weeks old…and people were flocking to it.  This card, showing the Tomorrowland entrance (P11893 – NT0018), is a classic early card that even today exudes the image of a bright future imagined by Walt and his team.

Our intrepid traveller John is loving it…writing back to his mom in Pennsylvania.  Good times were had by all it seems…the same then as it is today.

Until next time…

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WDW Super Bonus Album

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Todd

I have been focusing quite a bit lately on the “higher end” of the hobby with rarer Disneyland cards and the like.  But, as I have mentioned in the past, one of the reasons that this hobby is so much fun is that it will cater to almost any budget.  Sure, you can spend up to $300 (or more) on a single card…but you can put a really nice collection together for less than $1 a card.

This Bonus Album from Walt Disney World is one such example.  I saw it last week on eBay for single digit dollars and put in a bid at the minimum amount.  No one else wanted it, so I won.  It’s got 20 views of the WDW park…some that appear to be unique to this album.

So…if you are new to the hobby…be encouraged!  Not only is the “holy grail “only” a few hundred dollars (fairly cheap compared to a lot of hobbies), but most of the cards can be had for much less than your daily coffee habit!

Until next time…

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Art Corner Results – NT0586 and NT0593 get $103

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Todd

I was going to blog about something totally different tonight until I saw the result of this auction on eBay tonight.  I threw in a few bids here even though I have these cards.  I think this auction is mostly about the Mickey Mouse Tomorrowland card…the Dumbo card has been up on eBay a few times in the last few months and did not get anywhere near half this result.  I have the Dumbo Huey, Dewey and Louie card (NT 0586) at Uncommon in the price guide, with the Mickey Mouse Tomorrowland card (NT 0593) at Rare.  For now, I think it makes sense to leave them where they are, but if another result comes up with the Mickey card at greater than $75…then it probably ought to be changed.

Until next time….

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