Joe Vella of Decatur has spent a lifetime collecting postcards and has perhaps the world’s most extensive collection.
His collection of more than 52,000 postcards dwarfs the Guinness World Record holder, who claims to have just over 15,000.
Vella’s cards are meticulously tallied and filed, and he adds about 500 to his collection each month. He doesn’t know the monetary value but says, “It’s priceless.”
“I have an affection for art, history, and architecture. It brings me great joy to know that I’m collecting something unique,” said the 67-year-old, whose hobby began in childhood.
Postcards are No. 3 in popularity in the collecting world, just behind stamps and coins. Georgia has a postcard club that meets monthly on the third Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Decatur Recreation Center.
Collectors even have a name for what they do — deltiologist — which originated back when postcards were more customary than they are now.
“Postcards predate greeting cards,” said Vella. “People would send them to folks (during the year) or mail them for the holidays.”
Now, postcards are also becoming lost in the digital age. Sending travel greetings by text or social media is quicker and doesn’t require stamps.
“I’m not going to say it’s a dying breed, but postcards are getting more difficult to find,” Vella said.
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
Many businesses and institutions have considered the times and no longer offer postcards.
Vella’s collection includes some of these discontinued offerings, like older airline cards, both domestic and international (including a comprehensive Delta Air Lines collection), and those from cruise ships, colleges, and universities.
“Most universities have these great buildings and architectural gems, but not a postcard to be had,” Vella said.
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
Vella started collecting postcards between ages 5 and 10, growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s. His family would go to Florida for summer vacations, and his dad liked to spread the trip over three days, stopping along the way at motels.
“He considered the traveling piece part of the vacation,” he said.
Vella remembers running to the motel room and heading straight to the desk. There, he always found a motel postcard inside a guest packet.
He would also grab free postcards at visitor’s centers and buy them on outings to historical sites.
“I would credit the humble beginnings of my collection to those days,” Vella said. “As far back as I can remember, I do recall collecting postcards.”
In 1972, Vella took a manual count of the collection — 370 postcards.
His collection grew rapidly during his 33-year career with Federated Department Stores (past owner of Rich’s and Macy’s) as he traveled domestically and internationally for business and pleasure.
Vella is on a second career as a fundraiser with the American Red Cross.
He’s also grown his collection through friends emptying their parents’ houses or through estate sales.
“You would be amazed at how many folks have postcards and don’t even know it,” he said.
With estate sales, “you’re never guaranteed you’re going to get anything,” Vella said. “When I do find postcards, it gives me great joy knowing the person that lived there would be very happy knowing I would be incorporating them into my collection.”
When moving his parents to Decatur in 2010, his mom had a box that held every postcard he had ever sent her. With that stash, he began adding to his collection other used postcards.
Vella said that handwritten and stamped postcards are more valuable than blank ones.
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
“The collection has grown exponentially in the last couple of years,” he said. “Before I go on trips, I see if there are museums, historical society, visitor centers — all kinds of possibilities for postcards.”
He also gets postcards given to him, and duplicates get sent to his educator friends, who use them in the classroom. Students learn about geography, history, and art, write messages on the cards, and send them to a nursing home.
Vella doesn’t display any of his postcards but files them alphabetically by country and state in photo boxes. Each card lives inside its own poly sleeve, and he keeps track of what he has with an Excel spreadsheet.
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
One of his goals is to hold the Guinness World Record for postcards, but that requires a video count of each card. Friends have volunteered to help.
Vella also plans to digitize the collection when he retires and has more time.
His favorite cards are those from his childhood, business travel through Europe in the 1980s visits to Asia and India in the 1990s, and domestic vacations from the past 24 years.
“Postcards get passed from generation to generation, so if they are really meaningful to people, they don’t have to throw them away. They can give them a second or third life,” he said.
Georgia Postcard Club
Founded in 1980, the club meets on the third Saturday, September through June, at 11 a.m., at Decatur Recreation Center, 231 Sycamore St..
The Club can advise anyone with postcards as to what to do with them or put card owners in touch with a dealer if they wish to have a collection evaluated.
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