Postcards last longer than flowers

Don't say it with flowers, say it with a postcard.

The New Zealand Postcard Society has organised a postcard and collectables fair for Palmerston North later this month, which will provide plenty of opportunity for people to see just what those pieces of cardboard wedged at the back of the cupboard are worth.

While they have fallen out of favour in recent times postcards were a popular method of communication in early New Zealand.

Used as a form of communication from 1897, they became so popular that by 1909 more than 14 million of them were travelling through the Kiwi postal system. "Considering New Zealand only hit the one million population mark in 1908 that was quite an achievement," says Laurence Eagle, avid collector and postcard guru.

Mr Eagle will be displaying an impressive photographic documentary of Palmerston North between 1960 and 1980 at the fair and giving several talks to society members.

He will also be donating a thousand postcards as giveaways for visitors to the show.

Of those, some will be of Palmerston North and other treasures such as silk embroidered cards and ones that dated before 1900. "It's a good way to add or start a collection," he said. While it seems a very generous thing to do it will barely make a dent in Mr Eagle's collection. The man has in excess of 50,000 postcards in boxes and albums in his Christchurch home.

Mr Eagle said postcards are very collectable and those of small towns are more valuable as they are rare.

"You wouldn't expect to have many postcards of Bunnythorpe for example floating around," he said.

Local collector Donal Duthie said postcards can be a social barometer.

"Postcards can give an interesting insight to life in New Zealand when you read the messages on the back," he said. But for collectors, often the picture on the front tells more than a thousand words written on the back.

"I collect anything from the Botanical Gardens in Wellington and Stewart Island because I used to work at the gardens and live on Stewart," he said.

"We are very fortunate to have Laurence Eagle coming to the show, he's a marvellous collector of postcards and very knowledgeable."

The postcard and collectables fair will be held at the Palmerston North Leisure Centre on Ferguson St on Sunday September 19. Doors open at 10am and entry is free.

- © Fairfax NZ News