Condition & Descriptive Abbreviations for Postcards, Covers & Photos

Lower-case abbreviations following the price,
and sometimes including punctuation marks,
are inventory codes to help us serve you quickly--an idea
used by many large catalogue companies. For example, the af% in:
"FLAMBOYANT BLOSSOMS / Antigua, W. I." unused chrome
from a photo by Ho Hutton, saturated colors. $1.00 af%
is an inventory code, not a part of the postcard description.

For many years, an extensive set of abbreviations
was used to fully describe our offers--all in capital letters,
all before the price. We have now removed almost all the abbreviations below, replacing them with spelled-out words
for which they stood. The few that remain can be decoded below.
You should review of the list so that you will know how detailed
our descriptions are. We describe the item, you grade it.
[Other dealers grade the item & let you guess why
the grades apply.] We get many compliments on our system,
experience very few returns & have many satisfied customers
as a result. When it ain't broke, we don't fix it!

OLD ABBREVIATION	CURRENT TERMINOLOGY USED THROUGHOUT THE SIDE
AIC	Album Impressions at Corners
ALR	Address Label Removed
AMB	Album Marks on Back See an example or "Heavy AMB"
AMF	Album Marks on Face See an example
BP	Browning (or Brownish) Paper
CB	Citizen's Band (type of radio)
CC	Corner Crease
COF	Cancel ink On Face See an example
COL	COLor (not black-and-white) See an example
CTO	Cancelled To Order (for stamps)
dpi	Dots Per Inch (for scans)
EC	Exceptionally Colorful See an example
EFO	Errors, Freaks & Oddities (stamps)
EGST	Envelope Glue Show-Through (on back) See an example
EW	Edges Worn
EWB	Extraneous Writing on Back
FA	Fresh Appearance
FFC	First Flight Cover See an example
GA	Glitter Added See an example
GB	Green Back (French postcards) See an example
GP	Government-issued Postal card See an example
GPO	General Post Office (for cancels)
HPO	Highway Post Office (for covers)
HR	Hinge remnant(s)
HTB	Heavy Toning on Back
HTF	Heavy Toning on Face
IC	Internal Crease (Interior to One Edge)
ISB	Ink Smeared on Back See an example
ISF	Ink Smeared on Front
IST	Inconspicuous Small Tear
LF	Lacks Freshness (dingy) See an example
LH	Lightly Hinged (for stamps)
LTB	Light Toning Back
LTF	Light Toning Face See an example
M(Color)	Monochrome (Color as specified)
MO	Much Oxidation (for photos)
NH	Never Hinged (for stamps)
NPB	No Postcard Back
OG	Original Gum (for stamps)
OMB	(former) Owner's Mark on Back
PH	Pin Hole
PIB	Pertinent Information on Back See an example
PM	PostMaster
PMC	Private Mailing Card See an example
PNP	Photo, Not a Postcard
QSL	Ham Radio Card See an example QSL article
RCI	Rounded Corners as Issued See an example
RP	Real Photo See an example
RPO	Railroad Post Office See an example
SAR	Stuck to Album Remnant
SCC	Small Corner Crease See an example
SD	Stamp Damaged
SEB	Serrated Edge(s) from Booklet
SNE	Stain Near Edge
SO	Slight Oxidation (not to a fault)
SR	Stamp Removed See an example
SSB	Small Scrape on Back
SSF	Small Scrape on Front
ST	Sepia Tone (color) See an example
UB	Undivided Back
UD	Unusually Detailed
UEB	UEB - Uneven Edge (from Booklet)
UL	Upper Left
UR	Upper Right
US	United States
USA	United States of America
USM	Unusual Subject Matter
VLU	Very Late Usage (after the era in which the card was printed)
WBE	White-Border Era (c. 1920-1935) See an example
WOB	Writing On Back See an example or Much WOB
WOF	Writing On Face
WP	Wavy Paper (will not lie flat)
YP	Yellowing (or Yellowish) Paper