Collecting postcards and stamps isnt for those short on time and attention span, Mike and Kathy McLean say.


To find a desirable item, the owners of Vintage Postcards & Stamps say, a collector often must sift through hundreds of items to find one they need.


You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince, says Kathy McLean.


Fortunately for philatelists and postcard traders, for eight years the McLeans have provided a place to peruse for princes.


The shop is located at 1908 N. Hamilton, a few blocks north of Gonzaga University, in a small retail building that also is home to a tattoo parlor and a vintage record store. Inside the 700-square-foot shop, files filled with postcards and boxes brimming with baggies of stamps line shelves and tables at which collectors sit and sort through inventory.


Other paper collectiblesranging from nostalgic magazine advertisements to old cigar bandsline the shops walls.


Mike McLean estimates that the shop has about 75,000 postcards and hundreds of thousands of stamps.


On a recent afternoon, a woman with a young toddler on one hip shuffled through several boxes looking for postcards depicting bluebirds and emerged with a couple of cards she could add to her collection.


Overhearing a conversation between a reporter and shop owners, the woman interjected, Might I add these are the most organized people Ive ever seen.


The McLeans laughed and made derogatory comments about the shops disorganized backroom, but the customer might be on to something. The stores postcards and stamps are organized into categories and split again into more detailed categories, whether theyre geographical postcards organized by state or nature cards separated by animal types.


Kathy McLean says most collectors have specific interests, and having the merchandise organized helps them find what theyre looking for.


There are different boxes and files for different price ranges as well. Vintage postcards can range in value from a nickel to thousands of dollars, with most priced at $1 to $4.50. Stamps can be cheaper, but the upper end for them is as high as it is for postcards.


In recent months, the shop has sold two sets of zeppelin stamps, which include three U.S. stamps issued in 1930 for use on mail sent via zeppelin. The three stamps include pictures of zeppelins and have denominations of 60 cents, $1.30, and $2.60, which were rather large amounts considering it cost 2 cents to send a letter at that time. Consequently, the set of three is difficult to find. Mike McLean says the shop sold its sets for $800 and $1,200.


In the postcard end, the shop has happened upon a couple of turn-of-the-century, real-photo cards of small mining boomtowns that quickly came and went. Such cards are rare and have sold for hundreds of dollars, he says.


The McLeans say the store had total sales of under $50,000 last year, but was profitable. Sales inch up every year, which Mike McLean says is not bad, considering that overall hobby spending has declined in the current slow economy.


With all of the economic turmoil, were just thankful to be able to keep this stable, he says.


The McLeans and their son, Jon, are the stores only employees. Of the three of them, only Kathy works at the shop full time. Mike is there part time and is a full-time bus driver for the Spokane Transit Authority, and Jon is a student at Spokane Falls Community College. The shop is open six days a week.


In-store sales account for the bulk of Vintage Postcards revenues, but some established customers buy through the mail. The store also sets up booths at antique and collectible tradeshows on a regular basis and auctions items online via EBay.


The stores sales are split evenly between stamps and postcards, Kathy McLean says.


In addition to Inland Northwest collectors, the store draws people from farther afield. Nearly 50 percent of its business comes from dealers outside the region who come to bolster their own inventories, Mike McLean says.


He says those transactions go both wayshe and Kathy go on buying trips to visit other dealers on the West Coast. He concedes it sounds a little funny that so much of the stamp and postcard collectible business involves dealers buying from one another, but it makes sense, because hobbyists interests are so narrow that an item can sit idle in one store for months, then be snapped up quickly at another location.


In addition to securing new inventory through buying trips, the McLeans also buy stamps and postcards from people who come to the shop.


Some out-of-state customers make a point of swinging by the shop on annual vacations. One customer from France came into the shop several years ago while visiting a relative who lives nearby, and now buys U.S. stamps via the mail from Vintage Postcards on a monthly basis. The McLeans say hes planning another trip to the states later this year, and theyre already setting aside merchandise for his visit.


Generally, the focus in stamp collecting is on both U.S. and foreign stamps issued between 1840 and 1945. U.S. stamps issued after World War II typically arent worth much more than the value of the stamp itself, unless a stamp features a person or subject thats of particular interest to a collector.


Stamp condition is of paramount importance, with collectors paying particular attention to whether perforations are intact and the backs of stamps are torn or thinned from being removed from envelopes improperly, says Mike McLean, an avid stamp collector himself.


Unused stamps typically are more valuable than those that have been cancelled in the mail, he says.


With postcards, condition isnt always as important, and writing on the back can make them more valuable.


Real-photo postcards made between 1907 and 1918 usually are most popular, and postmarks and writing can be the only clues as to the location or significance of a photo on the front of the card, says Kathy McLean, a longtime postcard collector.


Greeting postcards, which feature a particular holiday, event, or sentiment, also from 1907 to 1918, also are popular, she says.


Mike started collecting stamps when he was 8 years old and always planned to open a stamp shop.


The collecting bug caught Kathy much later in life. In the late 1970s, she had a friend who collected postcards, and Kathy would frequent an antique shop on East Sprague Avenue to buy postcards as gifts. On one such trip, a postcard that featured a big-eyed, chubby-face child drawn by Francis Brundage caught her eye. She bought it for herself and was hooked thereafter.


She still has that postcard.


Ill have it forever, she says.


The couple converted their hobby to a business when their two favorite Spokane vendors grew older and separately encouraged them to take over their respective businesses.


The two vendors died within six months of each other, and the McLeans started their venture soon thereafter.


Both Mike and Kathy concede they have to be careful in keeping their personal passions separate from their store inventory, lest they become like the baker who eats all his profits.


One way they do that is through a one-in, one-out policy they set for themselves so that when they add an item to their personal collection, they take one out and add it to the stores inventory.


You have to be very disciplined, Kathy says.