How to Search in the Web Shop

Our web shop contains several search possibilities
– Selection of the categories "Postcards" and "Calendars" (top left)
– Filter search (left column)
– Full text search (search bar top middle)
– Search for "New in the shop" (left column bottom)
– Search within the search result
 

The listing of postcards from your search area always contains a thumbnail of the front side and basic information (airline, type of plane, registration, editor of the postcard, postcard number, size and condition of the postcard). By clicking onto the thumbnail or the basic information the page with detailed information shows up containing a larger scan, a thumbnail of the front and back side and more details about the postcard. If you click onto the thumbnail of the front or back side a large scan opens. By clicking onto the large scan the picture changes to the other side of the postcard. By clicking onto the grey area around the scan you are taken back to the page with detailed information.

Please take note that in some cases the quality of the scans is not good as the quality of the postcard. In particular, the scan of the reverse of the postcard can show shadows, which are not visible on the actual postcard. Furthermore, a substantial number of scans of the front side show broken lines, which do not exist on the postcards.

 
Selection of the categories "Postcards" and "Calendars" (top left)
 
The postcards are divided into several categories. Most postcards are available in the category "Civil Aviation". A direct selection of this category will show too many postcards for an easy search. Finding specific postcards through the filter or the full text search will be quicker. In other categories such as "Cockpit/Crew/Cabin" we have far less postcards on offer. For these categories the direct click on the category will show a manageable search result.

 
Filter Search (left column)
 
Within the "Filter Search" located in the left column you may use several lists for your search. All lists are sorted alphabetically. You may write into the relevant list which will take you directly to the selection you are looking for. Example (search for Trans World): Under Airline (Army, etc.) you click on the arrow showing downwards (located to the right of the listing). Usually you will see "All" as the standard entry in the list. Now you have several possibilities how to continue:

  • Possibility 1: You are scrolling down in the list of airlines until the expression "Trans World – TWA" becomes visible. Now you click onto "Trans World – TWA".
  • Possibility 2: As soon as the list with the choice of airlines opens up, you are typing Trans W on your keyboard. This will take you directly to "Trans World – TWA".
  • Possibility 3: As soon as the list with the choice of airlines opens up, you are writing the letter t or the letters tr or tra on your keyboard. This will take you directly to all airline names starting with T, Tr or Tra. Now you won't have to scroll much further until you find the requested airline "Trans World – TWA".
You may use the filter search in the same way for all other possible search criteria ("Country Airline", "Aircraft Manufacturer", "Aircraft Model", "Airport", "Country Airport", "Postcard Publisher").

Among the Postcard Publishers you will find two collective terms used frequently:

  • "Airline Issues" shows you all postcards which have been issued by airline companies.
  • "Rare Postcards - Vintage Postcards" shows you all postcards which we estimate being rare. These postcards are no longer found easily, occasionally they might even be very rare. Rarity of course has a huge impact on the price. Although Airline Issues are frequently considered as rare you will find them always directly under the selection "Airline Issues". We have not classified them in both sections.
The various search possibilities are linked among each other. This means for example that you may choose the country "United Kingdom" under "Country Airport" and then you will find all UK airports of which we have postcards on offer under "Airport". Under "Country Airport" we have classified Australia and the United States both with the country name and each individual State. Therefore by selecting "Australia" you will find all postcards picturing an Australian airport. By selecting "Australia – Queensland" you will get all Australian airports located in Queensland. The links between the search possibilities are based on the information and detailed description assigned to each individual postcard. Therefore by selecting as an example "United States/USA" under "Country Airlines" you will find also non US airlines, such as Cathay Pacific (because some airport cards show both US airliners and Cathay Pacific airplanes) or Air Algérie (because Air Algérie operated some airplanes on lease in US airlines hybrid colours).

 
Full text search (search bar top middle)
 
Through this search you will find all expressions with 3 or more characters. Here it's best to search for terms which are not offered in the filter section, such as:

  • Entering Zürich shows all postcards which contain the term "Zürich" in the descriptions. This mean that the result for example contains all postcards which contain the term "Zürich" in the title (i.e. postcards of Zurich Airport) and all postcards which show a picture taken in Zurich (if based on the data available on the back of the postcard, we were able to enter such information in the database), etc.
  • Entering Turkish results in all postcards which contain the term "Turkish" in the descriptions, for example postcards of Turkish Airlines, but also of Cyprus Turkish.
  • Entering British Airways results in all postcards, which in the information assigned contain the terms "British" or "Airways". Therefore this search will most likely deliver too many results. For specific airline companies it's best to search through the filter.
  • Entering LV results in all postcards containing a registration of Argentina. The search machine can handle all terms containing two or more characters. Therefore searching for registrations of France, Great Britain, etc. is not possible in the full text search bar. Postcards of airplanes with a specific registration such as I-BIXE should be searched by entering 3 or more characters after the country sign (i.e. BIX or BIXE). Entering BIX will also show registration I-BIXA. For USA you enter best the letter N with two numbers, e.g. N89. You may also have a good result by entering the country registration code (such as OE for Austria). For a quick search some countries (e.g. RA for Russia, JA for Japan) will result in far too many hits. In this case as well as for countries with a single character registration code you will have the best result through the filter search. First select the airline and then secondly select the relevant aircraft type. Within the result the registration is shown at the end of the first line of the postcard description.
  • You may search for a specific postcard of which you know the card number and the name of the publisher (or the 3-letter abbreviation we use in the reference number). Entering the 2 terms okc and 123 will result in all 11 postcards by the editor O.K.C., which start with "123", i.e. 123, 1230, 1231 etc. until 1239. You should add one, two or three zero (depending on the postcard editor) in front of all single digit numbers (example: you will receive card number 8 by jjPostcards as a result by entering jjpostcards and 0008; for card number 89 you need to enter jjpostcards and 0089).
Search Rules within the full text search:

  • The search includes all information assigned to the postcards (e.g. countries, aircraft models, reference to the colour schemes, etc.).
  • Upper and lower case is not differentiated, i.e. you may write everything, i.e. you may write everything in lower case.
  • Special characters (é, ä, –, _, /, etc.) are not taken into account, i.e. it does not make a difference whether you type TACA Perú or TACA Peru, Düsseldorf or Dusseldorf.
  • Your may shorten expressions, for example entering jjp, jjpo, jjpos, etc. results in all the words starting with jjp, jjpo, jjpos (i.e. jjpostcards). Or entering Aer shows you all postcards containing words starting with the 3 letters aer, for example Aer Lingus or aerial view. If you wish to restrict your search to postcards depicting aerial views, type aerial; for Aer Lingus type the two words Aer and Li.
  • A space is interpreted as "and". Example: you will find all postcards by jjpostcards which show an airplane of Sabena by entering jjp (or jjpo, jjpos, etc.) and sabena ("jjp sabena"). By entering only jjp and sab you will get additional results such as an airplane of Sabre Airways.
    Usually faster and more accurate however in this case is the filter search. You are first choosing jjPostcards from the list of Postcard Publishers and then the specific airline you are looking for from the list of Airlines (or you choose first the Airline and then the Postcard Publisher).
 
Search for "New in the shop" (left column bottom)
 
You will find newly added postcards in the shop as follows:

  • The search result can be sorted by date. This will list all postcards of your search area which have been added recently at the beginning of the list. By selecting the category "Postcards" (Link) you will get all postcards available through the shop. By sorting based on date you get a list with the most recent postcards showing up at the beginning of the list. All postcards which have been added to the shop less than 30 days ago carry a red bar marked "NEW". The most recent postcards are listed in the center of the entry page of our shop. The view is limited to a maximum of 50 postcards. If you wish to see all postcards added to the shop less than 30 days ago, click this link.
  • You can select our regular compilation of newly added postcards under "NEW IN THE SHOP" (left column lower section).
    For publisher postcards we are compiling a new list every one to three months. A new list regularly contains 150 to 200 newly issued postcards (for your information, these are the postcards which are available by subscription with a discount of 20%). The lists of new issues are named by year and are numbered (e.g. list 2014-1 is the first one compiled in 2014, 2014-2 the second one, etc.).
    - Rare postcards are compiled in lists named with the letters Rar followed by the year and a number. I.e. you will find all rare postcards of the first compilation of 2014 by clicking on Rar14-1, the second compilation is under Rar14-2, etc.).
 
Search within the search result
 
When the search result is shown a sort bar shows up on the top of the list and offers various options to sort the result. You can use them to search for specific postcards. For example the sort options might be used for the following.

  • If you have selected a certain postcard publisher you may sort the postcards either in an ascending or descending order by numbers (or by letters if letters have been used for numbering the postcards). You will achieve this by selecting the sort order "Reference: lowest first" or "Reference: highest first".
  • If you have a specific interest in rare postcards, mostly older cards from the period pre 1970/1980 you may sort the result by selecting the sort order "Price: highest first". By applying this sort order rare postcards will show up first because they are more expensive than modern publisher postcards, except when these have become rare themselves already.
  • If you are selecting "Airline Issues" from the list of postcard publishers, you can sort them alphabetically by airline by selecting sort order "Product name: A to Z".