A Hand Colored CDV of a Little Boy - 1860s

The thing that makes this CDV interesting is that parts of it are colored.  I'm pretty sure this was done by hand and it would have had to have been a painstaking process.  The obvious colorized object is the crimson table cloth.  Not so obvious is a very slight pinkish tint on the little boy's cheeks, the gold colored buttons on his shirt and the yellows and greens in the carpet.

I think (but am not positive) that the suit he is wearing is two piece, but the shirt and pants have the same checkered design.  His shoes have what look like metal tips on them, leading us to believe that his parents may have been doing well for themselves. 

This CDV is from the 1860s - we can tell by it's trim & weight (it is relatively thin) and to a lesser extent the clothing style.  There is no tax stamp on it, so it is either before 1864 or after 1865.  Not much to go on, but at least we know when it isn't, if you can follow the logic and grammar.  There is no photographer information or writing or any kind on this photo.    And it does have come condition issues - the corners have been trimmed, and there are some spots of something near the bottom.  But it's in the neighborhood of 150 years old, so we can make allowances I guess

Snapshot - 7 children, boys, girls, baseball gloves and a cat

I may be the only person on earth who thinks this is a cool picture.  It could be that I'm inventing the quirkiness about it.  

This is a snapshot, I'd say late 1950s or very early 1960s.  There are no dates, names, or writing of any kind.   Also no stamps or indication (that I could see) of the kind of photo paper used.  But based on the clothing, that is what I think.

Front row left, there is a boy in a white t-shirt, blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up (just like the cowboys wore them), most likely wearing black high top converse all-star tennis shoes and a baseball glove.  He is kneeling and looking very serious in a classic little league team picture type pose.  He's the only one kneeling, and is obviously out of sync with the rest of the group.

In contrast to his seriouness, the boy behind him has place his baseball glove on top of his head.  And the boy next to him is holding a cat.  The girls are just standing there and smiling, more or less like normal people.  Some of those girls have to be sisters.

It is a very typical picture in a sense.  Some grown up made them all get together to have their picture snapped.  But in another sense, it's a little odd.  Unlike many, many of these type of amature snapshots,  personalities were captured.  Accidently, I'm sure, but captured just the same.

Snapshot of a Mom and Little Boy, with Rifle.

This is the reason I like snapshots - you just never know when you're going to run across something like this.   Just a typical suburban scene in America, a mom with her rifle toting diaper clad little boy.  Though I'm not positive, I believe this photo is 1960s or so.

I'm sure it's a toy rifle, and I'm sure everything about the photo is innocent.   But still, it's an interesting change of scene from most snapshots, which consist of people standing somewhere looking like they wished they were somewhere else.

Its a small photo, about 3 x 4 inches.  The resolution on it is not great either, in fact it's within an inch of being out of focus. This was far from being a professional photograph.

If you wish to look a the eBay listing, go here.