The Photochrome Era of Postcards

Photochrome postcards finally merged beautiful brilliant colors and glossy photo quality images. Previously, postcards could only produce one or the other, but not both. Real photo postcards permitted actual photographic views, but only in black and white. Others, like linen postcards had the vibrant colors, but were only artistic renderings. For the first time, Photochromes allowed the ability to capture people, places and things as they actually were and in realistic color.

Photochrome postcards are also known as Chrome postcards. The shortened word “Chrome” stems from Kodak’s Kodachrome process because Chrome postcards looked very similar to how photographs appeared. They were made from color film and printed using four-color halftones. The picture did not have a border and the image ran straight to the edges. They were finished with a topcoat of varnish resulting in beautiful glossy postcards.

Chrome postcards were introduced in 1939 by Union Oil Company when they placed them in their service stations as an advertising promotion. Since they were of good quality and inexpensive to print, they were an instant hit. 1945 began what is now known as the Modern Chrome Era. By the early 1950’s, after the war, chrome postcards had nudged out linen postcards in popularity.

These early Chromes were manufactured by and large between the years of 1945-70. They were standard size cards just as earlier types of postcards had been. Although, of course, there were always some exceptions, the standard size was roughly 3.5 inches in height and 5.5 inches in width. During the 1950’s, publishers experimented with fancy edges, like scalloped or deckled.

Continental Chromes came onto the scene in the 1970’s and by the early 1980’s, eventually replaced the standard size postcards. Their basic size was larger, about four inches in height and six inches in width. The time from 1970 to the present is identified as the Continental Period.

Today, manufacturers are also publishing postcards called Supercontinentals. They can be very large. Supercontinentals are considered anything bigger than 4.5 inches in height and seven inches in width. Some are as large as six inches in height by nine inches in width! Currently, the United States Postal Service charges any postcard larger than 4.25 inches in height by six inches in width at a higher fee than its normal postcard rate.

With the arrival of the computer age, graphic artists now have no restraints on their creativity and can design postcards with dazzling colors, graphics and text. Chrome postcards are still going strong today and probably will for sometime to come in the future since travelers enjoy sending them and collectors desire to collect them.