Postcard-sized formats refer to “non-postcard” pitchcards and arcade cards that do not have postcard backs. Most were left blank on their versos (backs).
It would seem that a postcard format printed on the back of card would have had more salability and flexibility as a souvenir than a one-sided pitchcard. This was especially so in the age when postcards were a primary form of communication worldwide and were bought in enormous quantity. From 1905-1915 nearly a billion postcards were mailed per year in the United States. By the mid-1920s through 1930 the number had been reduced to some 200-300 million postcards a year.
Nonetheless the preponderance of cards that were printed without a postcard back would belie the thought that spending a little more to design and make a card that was more salable would result in the performer netting greater sales.
The reasoning behind not printing a standard postcard back on a card for sale of course had to be cost, i.e. it is cheaper to print a single sided card than a double-sided card. In the case of arcade or Mutoscope cards the idea was to produce a card as absolutely as cheap as possible to maximize profit to the operator of the machines that vended the cards.
Yet sometimes the need to incorporate more information on the verso of a card simply eliminated the possibility of creating a postcard format. These double-sided pitchcards are very much some of the most fascinating artifacts of the sideshow one can find.
It is obvious that non-postcard cards were kept as souvenirs and never mailed, but whether this made them a better contemporary collectible is up for debate. Today, all other things being equal, postcard versions of performer-sold souvenirs tend to have more value as collectibles to those who collect postcards and who oddly shun non-postcard formats.
It would seem that a postcard format printed on the back of card would have had more salability and flexibility as a souvenir than a one-sided pitchcard. This was especially so in the age when postcards were a primary form of communication worldwide and were bought in enormous quantity. From 1905-1915 nearly a billion postcards were mailed per year in the United States. By the mid-1920s through 1930 the number had been reduced to some 200-300 million postcards a year.
Nonetheless the preponderance of cards that were printed without a postcard back would belie the thought that spending a little more to design and make a card that was more salable would result in the performer netting greater sales.
The reasoning behind not printing a standard postcard back on a card for sale of course had to be cost, i.e. it is cheaper to print a single sided card than a double-sided card. In the case of arcade or Mutoscope cards the idea was to produce a card as absolutely as cheap as possible to maximize profit to the operator of the machines that vended the cards.
Yet sometimes the need to incorporate more information on the verso of a card simply eliminated the possibility of creating a postcard format. These double-sided pitchcards are very much some of the most fascinating artifacts of the sideshow one can find.
It is obvious that non-postcard cards were kept as souvenirs and never mailed, but whether this made them a better contemporary collectible is up for debate. Today, all other things being equal, postcard versions of performer-sold souvenirs tend to have more value as collectibles to those who collect postcards and who oddly shun non-postcard formats.
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