A Very Stylishly Dressed Woman, Nashville, Tenneessee

This is a late 19th (or very early 20th century) photo of a quite fashionably dressed woman. She's wearing a straw hat (I think it's straw anyway), a white blouse with a bow tie, a checkered vest, a jacket and holding gloves.  One can infer without too much effort that's she's also wearing a corset, which was pretty standard for the time.

She is very stylishly dressed.

The photo was made by Thuss of Nashville, Tennessee, and there is no other identifying information.    This was a professionally made studio photo, not a candid snapshot, and she was posed with her side to the camera.   It's not an unheard of pose, but it is unusual & adds a bit of interest.

Update:  Sold!

Antique postcard - a PSA for women born in August.

I decided that the first day of August was as an appropriate time as any to post this.  This is about the only time ever that I've been anything close to topical in any way, shape or form.

This is an early 20th century postcard & I suppose it qualifies as a comic.  I sure it was intended to be humorous.  And it does, in its way, illustrate one of the larger conundrums of life.  You make a life choice & chances are down the road you'll wonder what things would be like had you chosen differently.  Frequently people think a different choice may have been better, but there's just as much chance it would be worse.  You don't know.  That's life.

A deceptively heavy comic postcard.

I'm sure there's one of these for every month of the year, but this is the only one I have.

Cabinet Photo Wedding Couple From Vienna Austria

This is a cabinet photo of a bride and groom from Vienna, Austria.  Austria was the "Austro" part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time, Hapsburgs and all.  It must have been an interesting Empire, but it didn't survive WWI.

There are a couple of interesting things about this photo:  the subjects, and the clothing styles of the bride.

The man seems to be extremely tall, and the woman is normal height at best.  He is taller than she is, even though he his seated and she is standing.  It's true, she's leaning in a little, but if he were standing, she probably would not even reach his shoulder, height wise.

The woman's dress is inconveniently short for a cabinet photo.  I always thought that these kinds of photos were exclusively from the late 19th or very early 20th century.  To me her wedding dress looks straight out of the 1920s, and if that is true it is very inconvenient indeed.  My knowledge would be somewhat shaken.

Of course this photo is from Europe so maybe they made these  types of photos later there, maybe clothing styles changed there before they did in the USA.  I know from photos that styles were somewhat different - for example, a lot of central European men of the late 19th & early 20th century had "Kaiser Bill" (handlebar) mustaches - most American men didn't.   But it's hard to believe a woman in the 1890s would wear a dress that short.

I don't like it when things in photos don't quite match things I thought I knew.   It's a nice photo tho.

CDV of a Woman from Aurora, Illinois 1880s-1890s

This is a CDV of a woman, taken by D. C. Pratt of Aurora, Illinois, probably in the late 1880s or 1890s.  There is no other identifying information on the CDV.

This woman looks like she may be Native American (Indian), or perhaps Asian, or maybe neither, it is hard to tell - at least for me.  It is sort of Sepia toned, no special background or props, and the clothing she's wearing looks pretty mainstream for the period.

She has a bit an exotic look to her, and that is enough to make this an interesting photo.  At least to me.

Cabinet Photo of a young Woman wearing a tall Hat & a tight Jacket

Usually I post photos or postcards here that are active listings for sale on my eBay site.  I post them because I think they're interesting for some reason, I think it gets them a lot more looks and it may help with sales.  I'm not a collector (for the moment), I buy these photos at various venues and I try to sell them for a profit.  I'm not emotionally attached to any of them, though I do like them.  I must enjoy buying and selling these photos, because, believe me,  there has to be a way to make more money than this.  (Like have a real job maybe?  Well I had those for a long time, this is much more fun.)  Anyway, this photo has already sold - it sold today and is off to the great state of Arkansas, which makes it an unusual post for me.  I have nothing to gain by posting this (sales wise anyway), I just like it.

This is a detail of a cabinet photo.  Its a young woman wearing a tallish, fairly elaborately decorated hat, a tight knitted jacket/sweater with a high collar, lots of buttons and a sprig of flowers.  She's also wearing a ring of some sort - looks more like a class ring than a wedding ring.  It is from the 1870s-1880s era, most likely.  There is no photographer information or writing, so no clues as to who this was or where it was made.

The photos I post here usually don't do the real item justice, and that is very true in this case.  The actual cabinet photo shows the details of the jacket much more sharply.

Sold!

Cabinet Photo of a Teen-aged Girl with long Hair from Easton Pennsylvania

There is nothing unusual about this Cabinet Photo, I just like it.  It's a formal studio portrait of a teen aged girl,  standing with her hand on one of those fancy couches whose name I can never remember.  She has quite long hair draped over her right shoulder.  Her dress is not even quite ankle length, which, along with the way she's wearing her hair, was probably an indicator of youth and an unmarried status at the time (probably 1870s).

The photographer was McCabe, located at 429 Northampton Street, Easton, PA.  I was not able to find out any specific information about the photographer, and there is nothing to indicate who the subject of the photo was.  It's just a nice picture.

Cabinet Photo of a Young Woman with Long Hair and Bare Arms

 

This is a cabinet photo (a little more than 4 x 6 inches, including the mounting) of woman wearing a dark short sleeved dress.  It was taken by F. B. Merker of Belleville, Illinois.  There is no other identifying information.

 

My best guess is that this is from the 1880s or 1890s, and it was unusual for a woman (or a man for that matter) to display bare arms in a formal portrait.   Also, I originally thought that was a boa draped over her shoulder, but it isn't - it's her hair, probably in a long pony tail.  Most women her age, in that era, would not have worn their hair down.

 

Maybe she was an actress (you know how they are).  Maybe she was ahead of her time stylistically. 

Or maybe it was a fad, or maybe it was well within the moral conventions of the time, or perhaps it was the latest and greatest from the fashion houses of Paris.  I honestly have no idea.

 

Unique photos are hard to find.  If it were easy to find them, they would not be unique.  I suppose every photo is unique in some way, in fact I know they are,  but some are more unique than others.  This woman's bare arms and long hair draped over her shoulder sets this photo apart.

 

(Old joke:  how do you find a unique photo?  You neek up on it.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Mysterious Antique Photo of a Young Woman

I don't really know what to say about this photo - it's just something I find visually interesting.  

It's not large - just over 5 inches tall and 4 inches wide, and there is no writing or photographer information on it.

The clothing and the mounting date this to the early 20th century, but I can't really say how early.  I assume, because it's mounted on cardboard with gold trim, that it was taken by a professional photographer.    Amateur snapshots started showing up in the early 20th century, but I think this is more professional than that.

Everything about this photo seems somewhat unique, to me. 

Starting from the top - she's wearing some kind of cap or hat that you didn't see many women wearing, at least in photos.  Most women's hats of the era were big, elaborate, flowery, feathery things.  This one is hard to make out in any detail - there is a band of cloth going around it, and I can't make out a brim or bill or anything else.  It looks almost like a pillbox hat.

She's wearing a tie, and what looks like a white vest - quite masculine - with hands either in her dress or jacket pockets.  My wife would be able to tell you what kind of sleeves those are on the jacket, but I don't dare even conjecture.  She's wearing a long ankle length dress, and I cannot make out her shoes in any kind of detail.  I suspicion they are lace up boots, but that's but I have no way to prove it.  She's probably wearing a corset, but who knows.  Her hair appears short, and she's looking slightly away from the camera.  The background is a plain wall, no chairs, plants, statues, pedestals or props of any kind.  That, all by itself, is interesting.

I don't know if anyone else sees what I see in this photo or not.  To me, the whole thing pretty mysterious.   A young woman was photographed 100 to 110 years ago, and that's about all I can  say about it with any kind of certainty.

She's young, late teens or early 20s.  Is she dressed stylishly for the time, or did she just get off the boat from some eastern European country?  I don't know.   

Black Americana Postcards - Detroit Publishing - Early 20th Century

These are two "Black Americana" postcards by Detroit Publishing, dating from the early 20th century. 

The first shows a young woman with the caption "Polly in the Peanut Patch"; the second is an old man with a watermelon with the caption "The Melon-Cholic days have come, the gladdest of the year".

Black Americana is a postcard collecting category, and for some people that's what they collect.  In the early 20th century (and in fact much later) most postcards depicting African Americans would be considered anything from mildly to blatantly racist by today's standards.  Possibly by the standards of the time too, I don't know. 

Anyway these are neat cards - not only because of the subject matter, but because of the publisher.  I've written about Detroit Publishing before, so I won't repeat everything in this post, you can click on "Detroit Publishing" in the labels and find another post I wrote if you want more info about them.  They used a special printing (or coloring) process which I think they leased from a European company and called "Phostint", and as a result their graphics are a higher quality than most other cards printed at the time. The coloring on "Polly's" card is very nice.

These are divided back cards, so that dates them to March 1907 or later - my feeling is that they are pre-WWI.

Update:  Both Sold!

CDV of an older woman wearing a large hoop dress and whilte mantilla, taken by Robert Slingsby

This is a CDV of an older woman wearing a large hoop dress and an white mantilla.

I learn a lot about fashion from old pictures - to me, man that I am, she's wearing a veil.  To my better half, woman that she is, she's wearing a mantilla.  A mantilla is covers the neck and shoulders, while a veil covers the head and face.  I believe that's the difference. 

Either way, the elaborate dress and the head covering make this an interesting photo. 

The backstamp lists the photographer as R. Slingsby of Lincoln (U.K.).  There is a blurb indicating he was patronized by the Prince of Wales, and reproductions of awards he received in 1868 and 1869.  Robert Slingsby was a well known photographer of the time, active between 1859 and the 1890s. 

I found the follwing information on http://dating-au.com/slingsby-robert-d-1895/ :

"Slingsby's more important contribution to photog­raphy was his work on the development of flash light for photography. As early as 1869 he had a photograph reproduced in the Illustrated London News that had been produced using artificial light and between 1890 and 1891 he was granted four patents relating to the use of magnesium for flash photography one of which related to a shutter that could be synchronised to the discharge of magnesium."

So Robert Slingsby was a bit more than the run of the mill 19th century portrait photographer.  He died in 1895.

Cabinet Photo of a Woman Reflected in a Mirror - 1890s

I like this photo for 3 reasons.   First, we're pretty sure this is from the 1890s, and you don't see very many women with bare arms in he 1890s.  Second, her profile is reflected in a mirror, and that is pretty neat.  I've seen this before, but I'm pretty sure it's the only one I have.  And 3rd, she has a very low cut neck line, in a era when most women had collars that went up to their chin.

In fact, she's showing a lot of skin at a time when usually all you saw skin wise of a woman (or a man, for that matter), was their hands and face. 

I have another photo of this woman in the same dress, same necklace and everything, but in a more traditional pose. 

The photo was taken by Garrison Bros. of Fort Dodge, Iowa.  The Garrison brothers were Charles F. and Fred, and they had a studio in Fort Dodge in the 1890s - at least until 1896.  So this photo is 116-120 years old, give or take.

I have no information on the woman, it would be interesting to know who she is and how she came to have such a photograph made. 

UPDATE:  Sold!

A bit of Fashion - Antique Photo

I love this photo, and it's mostly because of the clothes the woman is wearing.  The odd hat with super long feathers, a beaded dress & boots (perhaps lace up, not sure).  I also love the sepia tone.  This photo screams 1920s.

It comes in a large folder, which frankly, has seen better days.  The photo is in great condition, however. 

Other than the woman's display of fashion, it's not particularly remarkable.  There is no photographer information, no names or date, no clue as to who these people are or where they came from.   Doesn't matter, it's a lot of fun to look at.

C. V. Muttich Art Postcard, early 1900s

This is an early 20th century art postcard of a painting by C. V. Muttich.  It's title is "Girl from Trentschin", which I believe is a city in Slovakia, or perhaps the Czech republic. 

I like art postcards, especially ones of artists I'd never heard of, like Muttich.  I still don't know much about Muttich, except he was Czech, and I've seen his firs name (Casimil) spelled with a "K" as well as a "C".  I suspect "K" is more correct.  He apparently did several of paintings similar to this one.

It's a pretty picture.  The girl is wearing a very elaborate dress & head scarf, very central European, and looks contemporary to the time of the painting (1914, give or take). 

The Bullens Family of Massachusetts.

This is part of the Bullens family, late of Boston & Newton, Massachusetts., and sometimes of Buffalo & Rochester, New York.

We've listed 9 old photographs (CDVs, Cabinets & other Antique photos) of various members of this family.  I have 3 pictures of Mary Bullens, spanning at least 20 years.  There are pictures of Mary Bullens as a child, as a young woman dated1881, and another dated 1891.  We also listed a picture of Charlotte Bullens as a young woman (undated), a cabinet photo of Kingsley Bullens as a baby, and one of a very debonair Albert Bullens, undated, but we know is 1896 or later because of the photographer information.

We also listed a photo of the Bullens family lot at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass. - it has steps leading up to it with the "Bullens" family name.

Oh the whole, this seems to be a family of some means, probably not in league with the Vanderbilts, but significantly better off than most.

The picture above has some handwritten information on back:  O. L. Bullens, Rochester, NY, Oct 26, '83.  So if the date is correct, this photo is 128 years old.   I believe, but no way can I prove, that the younger woman sitting in front is Mary Bullens, and I think the woman in the very back is Charlotte Bullens.  I cannot be sure about that.   I have no idea which one is "O.L. Bullens",  and I don't see anyone I can identify as Albert.

128 years ago a group of family members gathered out on some rear steps of a house and had their picture taken.  Mary (or whoever) moved, her face is slightly blurred.  Judging by the everyone is wearing, it was quite a formal society.   I believe Charlotte was buried in the family area at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in 1933, meaning she lived about 50 years after this picture was taken.

Anyway, we've listed 9 pretty nice photos of this family in our store, all ID'd & most dated.

Dec 17th:  After staring at the back of the picture for awhile, I've realized that "O.L. Bullens" may really be "C. L. Bullens", which would indicate Charlotte.  Handwriting can be tricky sometimes.

Update:  Sold!

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. 

Antique Photo Factory Workshop Man & Woman Workers Barrels Boxes Early 1900s

This is an antique photo of two people, a man & woman, in some kind of workshop.   No one wrote anything on this picture to identify the people or its age - we believe it is very early 20th century.  It is mounted on a larger cardboard backing & is a little faded.

There is some sort of light above the table, but I'm not convinced that it is electric.  The items on the floor near a table and a barrel look like nuts & bolts to me, but it could be anything.  It has an ornate, probably tin, ceiling.

I've gone over this picture with a magnifying glass looking for anything like tools or advertising I could identify.  Some of the items on the shelves have writing, but I could not read it.

I like pictures like this because of all the details in it - details no one gave a thought about.  This one is full of wooden barrels, boxes, shelves with cans on them, stuff piled on the floor, and on and on.  I have no idea what kind of work went on there, but it captures a fraction of a second of two people's lives.  Two people who are long gone, but who look quite healthy here.

Update:  Sold!

CDV of a Young Woman in Neu-Strelitz Germany

This is a CDV photo of a young woman, taken by H. A. Krull in Neu-Strelitz, Germany.   What I find interesting about this is the hat she is wearing.  In our eBay listing we called it a "Santa Claus" hat, but I'm sure it's not.  It has a fringe with some sort of plume behind it, and they are probably white.  The cap is a dark color, but which dark color is anybody's guess.   She is also wearing a long necklace, perhaps with a locket, earrings, and a ring on her right hand.

Neu-Strelitz is north of Berlin.

On the back of this card is photographer information and a couple of medallions.  Photographers, especailly European photographers, would frequently include copies of awards they had won on the backing of the photograph.  One of the medallions on this one has a date of 1863.

If this were an American CDV, I'd estimate it from the 1880s, just by the physical characteristics of the photo and the backing.   It's possible this is from the 1880s also, but since it's from Europe I can't be positive.  It may be earlier.  But I think 1880s would be a good estimate.  No matter what - it's old.

Update: Sold!

An Antique Photo of a Young Woman with Wire Rim Glasses

There's probably no real reason I should like this photo, but for some reason I'm drawn to it.  I think it's the expression, more than anything. Her head is slightly tilted, and she has a "get this over with and let me get out of here" kind of look.  She's dressed nicely, lots of bows and lace, with a very high collar.  She's also wearing wire rimmed glasses, which is interesting.  She could have taken them off and no one, especially now, would know the difference.  I'm glad she didn't, because for me it adds another element to the photo.  It makes her seem more human.  I've always found this photo intriguing, wondering what was on her mind.

There is no date information on the photo, but I'm pretty sure it's in the 1890-1910 time frame.   She looks to be in her early 20's, which would mean she was born somewhere between the late 1860s to late 1880s, give or take.  If she were born in the later end of that spectrum, she could have lived well into the 2nd half of the 20th century.  She would have lived to an age where her grandchildren and great-grandchildren (perhaps even her children) would have trouble believing she was ever young, strong, in good health & dressed stylishly.   

The photographer's name was Ingalls, and he worked at Knowlton's Studio in Farmington Maine.