Saturday Market: NYC Flea Markets

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This post is a long time coming.  I went on a trip to New York City in late August with hopes of finding postcards.  I have to admit, I did find postcards as I walked through Times Square many times (our hotel was a few blocks away).  The souvenir shops sold postcards for as low as 20 / $1 – yes 5¢ each.  The further from Times Square I walked, the cheaper the postcards were – in Times Square proper they were around 20¢ each.  Two blocks out 10¢, another two blocks 6¢, and slightly further on 5¢.  Every souvenir shop sold an almost identical variety of postcards.

New York City Postcards

The problem was, I longed for something more unique as a souvenir.  So, on Saturday I walked down to the Chelsea Flea Market.  The last time I spent any time in NYC was about 15 years ago.  I remember walking through Chelsea and finding all kinds of side sales happening on the sidewalks and in the alleys.  Not this time.  The only flea marketing to be done was at the actual flea market – a fenced in parking lot between two buildings.  There was a $1 cover charge to get in.  The website claims 135 vendors – either I was there on an off-weekend or that is a gross over-exaggeration.  I think there were close to 40-50.  It was a nice mix of antiques, art, and ethnic wares.  In my opinion it was very expensive (keep in mind I am used to west coast thrift store prices).  Asking price for postcards was $3-5 each.  I did find one vendor, down the alley towards the back (clearly where the vendors with less seniority get shoved).  His primary inventory was coins – he had several nice glass cases with the coins displayed.  Then on a side table he had his “other stuff” dumped.  Not displayed, just dumped.  I saw a handful of postcards lying there.  Without looking to closely, I asked the price.  $40.  I tried to bargain, but he wouldn’t budge claiming he hadn’t had the chance to go through them yet.  As I glanced through the pile, I realized $40 was a reasonable (if not really good) price and I purchased the whole stack.  After I got back to the hotel, I looked closer at the stack and found a full set of Leighton US President postcards as well as about 20 other antique postcards or my collection.

On the way back to the hotel, I swung over to the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market.  It was even more sparse than the Chelsea Flea Market – only about 20 vendors.  There was only one vendor selling postcards – $3 each.  By then I was so hot and sweaty – it was about 90° – that I decided to just head straight to the hotel.  I have to admit with all of the hullabaloo about NYC flea markets, I was hoping for a lot more.  In the end, I can’t say that I wasn’t satisfied with my purchase!

chelsea-flea-market-postcards

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About the author

Heidi
I started collecting postcards when I was about 5 years old. My only Grandfather lived in Germany, and it was a fun way for us to correspond and have some sort of relationship. I adored the "Hilde" postcards, and he soon started sending me a different one each time he wrote. I had a special bond with my paternal Grandfather, although I only met him a few times. A few years later my adopted Grandparents in Denver started sending me postcards from their vacations, which were mostly road-trips around the USA. My collection continued to grow and eventually filled two binders. As my collection grew, my mother, who also collected postcards when she was young, started adding postcards to my binders from her collection. I had so much fun dreaming of traveling to exotic places! I would sort and re-sort the postcards by type, location, like/dislike, etc. It wasn't until I was in my 20's, when I sorted the postcards chronologically by sender, that I realized there were a few postcards from my maternal grandmother to my mother. One such postcard was sent to my mother as a teenager who was visiting family in Berlin. My Grandmother wrote and asked her to come home early because my Grandfather's illness had taken a turn for the worse. My Grandmother died a few months later of an unrelated disease, and my Grandfather several weeks after that. I also found a postcard from a ship that my paternal Grandfather sailed on to immigrate to the USA. He sent it to his parents and explains that when he got seasick, the crew told him to eat rollmops and drink beer and hot cocoa (yes, pickled herring + beer + chocolate). My current postcard collection is divided into two sets. One set is the pictures I like sorted by theme - exotic places, animals that make me smile, costumes that I dream of making. The other set is from family and pieces together our story. I still send postcards when I travel and am an active trader.

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