conclusions

Summarizing, for those who love numbers, of the postcards catalogued in our research, and the reported in our book at the time of printing, 122 different sets, totaling 787 postcards of various drawings, can be counted. About 600 of these are signed by Kirchner or can certainly be attributed to him. But, some sets comprise different types of printing: for example, for a Kirchner collector an orange Geisha is different to a green Geisha , even if the basic drawing is the same. Then, counting the postcards of a same set but of a different type the total rises to a good 998.

Finally, if we wanted to make a total of the number of postcards catalogued in all the various other editions, with and without greeting overprints, the number would increase to several thousands.

This last analysis allows us to point out a fact that certainly every Kirchner collector must realize, but which only the thorough research and the result of which is in our catalogue, puts into full evidence: the incredibly high number of worldwide publishers that have printed Kirchner's postcards! We list more than seventy names of either publishers, printers or dealers that appear on Kirchner's postcards. In actual fact, not all these names represent real editors, but certainly all the most important publishing companies of postcards during the Golden Age were proud to include some of Kirchner's series in their catalogues; for dealers too, it was good publicity to have their personal name printed on these postcards, which were already collectors' items at the time of publication.

We would, of course, be grateful to anyone who could point out any mistakes in our catalogue, and inevitably there will be some, but who could also and aboveall give indication to any item or edition which to their knowledge has not been catalogued, and so give us the possibility to update the checklist, to the benefit of all Kirchner collectors.