That Summertime Smile

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Per Playle’s guide for dating stamp boxes on Real Photo Postcards, this NOKO design ranged from about 1907 – 1929; a broad range to be sure! My feeling is it might have been taken in the 1910s or early ’20s. But in any case, it shows a beautiful woman with an absolutely radiant smile (you can enlarge the photo twice for best view.) From afar one might get the impression that she’s in her late 30s or early 40s, but I think this is more of an effect of where the sun highlights her hair, making it appear gray on top, thus aging her appearance a little. With a closer look she appears to be maybe in her 20s. Anyway, our subject sits cross-legged, holding a parasol, and smiling at the person taking the photo. She wears a dress with white sailor collar with dark bow; white cuffs and wide decorative white band near the hemline. The dress material is possibly seersucker; a up-close view shows pale stripes; and pinned to the collar is a round locket or watch. The location, like the woman’s name, is unknown; she sits just inside a length of grass and wildflowers (why call them weeds?) and the photo appears to have been taken in a courtyard of some type. Is that a set of apartments showing in the back with pillars supporting a trellis canopy? Did she live there or work there? We may never know but aren’t we lucky to be graced with such beauty around us, in the past, present and yes, future? To quote Janis Joplin on the subject of time,  “It’s all the same fucking day, man!”  and Mother Teresa on the power of the smile,  “Peace begins with a smile.”

Divided back, unused Real Photo Postcard. NOKO stamp box. Circa 1910s – early 1920s.

Price:  $6.00

Sources:  “Ball & Chain” (W.M. Thornton) Recorded live by the Full Tilt Boogie Band on July 4, 1970 at the Canadian Festival Express in Calgary, Alberta.

Quotes About Smile. Goodreads. Web accessed March 8, 2015. [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/smile]

Out Standing In Their Field

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Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, Unused. AZO stamp box. Circa 1907 – 1918.

Price:  $5.00            

Real Photo Postcard showing a gorgeous photo of four beautiful ladies (three women and a child) posed in a field of tall grass. One of the women holds an umbrella, which may have been just for providing shelter from the sun, but it could have been brought along for the rain too, as we can see that the sky holds some dark clouds. I think the family relation is probably a mother and child and the mother’s older and younger sister. There is something quite interesting about this photo, though. If flipped in Photoshop it will show that the woman holding the little girl wears the ring on her left hand rather than on her right. If the photo was reversed when processed by the photography studio, then that changes the assumption of who the child’s mother is in the photo. (Unless the woman is wearing an engagement ring, and the mother is the woman in the center.) However, the little girl, and woman holding her, both wear checkered dresses, and we can well imagine that the little girl might have been proud to be wearing “a dress like Mommy.” Also, the woman in question appears to maybe be pregnant. Here below is the image reversed in Photoshop, and I think that this is the correct interpretation. In any case, this is just a beauty of a photo. Too bad there were no names or even a place name written on the card, but it’s a divided back card and the stamp box is an AZO with all four triangles pointing upward, which dates the postcard from about 1907 – 1918.

Out Standing In Their Field pc1 reversed

Bridal Shower Card

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Bridal shower card, circa 1927 from The Buzza Co. The yellow ribbon attached to the card has produced some discoloration under the ribbon on the front and inside of the card.

Price: $20.00

“Here is wishing all your showers

Will be happy ones like this.

And that when you are a Mrs.

My gift will not come a-miss.”

It’s raining flowers in this absolutely lovely bridal shower card showing a young dark-haired bride-to-be in a yellow and white gown, and holding a cute little black umbrella. This is a Buzza Company card, and there is already a lot that’s been written about this company and it’s founder, so just a few quick facts:  Buzza was George E. Buzza (1883 – 1957) who started a greeting card company that became one of the largest in the United States. The first cards came out in 1910. The company was known for it’s high quality and innovation, and also produced other items like bridge score cards, etiquette and children’s books, and framed sentimental sayings. The card shown above opens almost in the center to reveal the message on the inside; the second image above was cropped so that the saying would be easier to read. The third image shown above is, of course, the back of the card, and you would hardly recognize that there is anything there unless you look very closely. At the bottom right there is a faint imprint showing “The Buzza Co. Craftacres. Mpls. U. S. A. Copyright 1924”  . Craftacres is a building name:  When the company, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, needed more space, Buzza had a new building constructed that was opened to it’s employees in May of 1927, and was named Craftacres.

Source:  Koutsky, L. (2013, April 23) Checking out the buzz at Buzza Lofts. The Journal. Retrieved from:  http://www.journalmpls.com/voices/voices/checking-out-the-buzz-at-buzza-lofts

Bunny Embrace

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Divided back, used postcard. No. 7713? Postmarked from Dixon, California, April 16, 1908. Publisher:  Richard Behrendt, San Francisco, California. Made in Germany.

Price:  $8.00 for digital scan only. Original in web author’s personal collection.

“Dear Cora!  Rec’d you card and it was very pretty. How is every thing, all O.K? It is warm up here now. Farmers are all crying for rain up here. Hope they get it soon. Kind Regards to you all from Ellen  – Write Soon”

Card is addressed to:  “Miss Cora Hollenstein, Salinas, Cala.”

This is a postcard that my friend bought for me since my husband and I have our own bunny (the most beautiful in the world – and they all are; as well as the most beautiful kitty in the world, and they all are.) So, this card is only for sale as a digital scan. Anyway, this is just a precious image:  A little girl with light brown curls, sits outside on a lawn, holding a closed umbrella (for some reason an umbrella, but this makes the picture even better.) She has an Easter basket of eggs beside her, and is dressed charmingly, with red striped stockings, a blue skirt, white peasant-type blouse, white apron, a red and blue scarf or perhaps this is part of a pinafore, and an embroidered-looking hat. Directly behind her is a taller basket with her brown bunny appearing out of it to give her a hug. Girl and bun are cheek to cheek, and their expressions are wonderful. The caption Easter Greetings appears in light purple at the top left, after which the sender has written,  “to you all from Ellen Anderson.”

The card has the postal markings from Salinas on the front, as well as the postmark for Dixon, California on the back. Perhaps I will do a Photoshop version of the image without the postal markings. (When I get some extra time, ha – or finally learn how to “bend the space-time continuum” ha ha. This last remark is part of caption from a great newspaper comic that appeared somewhere, that I hope I saved. If I can find it, I will put post it. Why not?) This postcard is also interesting for the fact that we are also experiencing (unfortunately) a drought here in California, just as the farmers were in the Dixon area in April of 1908.

The addressee on this card is likely the same as appearing with her parents and siblings on the 1910 Federal Census, taken in the Santa Rita precinct of Alisal Township (Salinas today) California. The family is as follows:  Henry H. Hollenstein, occupation farmer, born Denmark about 1836; his wife Maria M., born Denmark about 1853; their children Andrew B., born California about 1879; Henry H., born Arizona about 1884; Harrietta? C., born Arizona about 1882; Mabel E., born Arizona about 1887; and Cora M., born Arizona about 1890.

The card is postmarked from what must be Dixon, California (located about 23 miles from Sacramento, in northern Solano County) since Ellen is saying  “it is warm up here…”  Dixon is about 150 highway miles north of Salinas. The postmarked date is April 16, year is probably 1908.

As to the sender of this postcard, Ellen appears on the 1900 Federal Census taken in Dixon, with her parents. The family is as follows:  Andrew Anderson, occupation farmer, born Sweden in May 1857; his wife Hilda, born Sweden in November 1865; and their daughter Ellen V., born California in January 1889.

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Alisal, Monterey, California; Roll: T624_89; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0002; FHL microfilm: 1374102. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1900; Census Place: Dixon, Solano, California; Roll: 113; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0145; FHL microfilm: 1240113. (Ancestry.com)

Wilmot’s Clothing House Trade Card

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Victorian Era trade card, Boston, circa 1885.

Size:  About 4 and 1/2 x 2 and 5/8″

Price:  $15.00

Cheap Suits On Newspaper Row

Wilmot’s, at the time this trade card was printed, was located at 259 and 261 Washington Street; this was next door to the location for the newspaper publication the Boston Herald; the Herald’s address being part of Washington Street’s “Newspaper Row.” It looks like this card was saved for the charming image on the front, since it had been, in all likelihood, glued in a scrapbook; it’s removal from which caused the print to be missing in the four corners. This makes the full company name, that would have appeared at the top, hard to figure out, as there are definitely more than a few possible letter combinations. But whoever they were, they had the misfortune to have needed to declare bankruptcy, and Wilmot’s must have bought part or all of their remaining stock. Imagine buying a man’s suit for as low as $2.98 and boy’s suit for as low as 90 cents! (I know, inflation, inflation, but a 90-cent suit is just so funny-sounding.) The Herald’s six-story structure was built in 1877-1878, and their address was 255 Washington Street in Boston. Though the prior location for the Herald had been in close proximity to their new address, it’s more likely that, at the time this card was printed, Wilmot’s was located next door to the Herald’s more recent one at 255 Washington St. The Herald’s address is a great help in dating the card, but we find that we can narrow it down a little further below.

H. B. Wilmot

It turns out that Wilmot’s got it’s name from owner H. B. Wilmot. Below shows the full page ad from an 1872 Cambridge city directory showing the business name as H. B. Wilmot & Co. An earlier 1870 Boston directory shows the same name and address. Other years (1880-1886) show addresses in Salem, Lynn, Lawrence and Taunton. In the 1885 Boston, under Wholesale Clothing, we see the 261 Washington St. address, so this trade card is likely from this year or close to it. Manager names Joseph W. Rice (Lawrence 1881), J. F. Boynton (Salem 1880) and H. C. Reed (Taunton 1881) also show in directories under Wilmot’s, so it looks like there were several locations running at one time. And from at least 1884-1913, H. B. Wilmot had a summer home in Gloucester, with the latter part of those years, showing a regular residence in Somerville, outside of Boston. It seems, from looking at all these city directories, that H. B. Wilmot had a very successful career in the clothing business.

H B Wilmot & Co Ad

On the Front

I suppose this is a lithograph though I am really not sure. But as far as the wonderful artwork we see here: Was the image supposed to be of two ladies, one of whom pushes a baby in a carriage, or is it an image of two little girls, dressed in adult-like fashion, one of whom pushes their dolly in a carriage? From the short hemlines we see here, I would guess that these two are little girls, otherwise it would seem that the hems would have been at, or much closer to, the ground. I love the way we see the profile of the girl on the left (love the parasol) who gazes dreamily off into the distance; contrasting to the girl on the right, contentedly pushing the carriage and concentrating on the path ahead.

Sources:  The Boston Herald and It’s History by Edwin A. Perry. Published Boston, Mass., 1878. (Google eBooks)

http://goodoldboston.blogspot.com/2011/01/bostons-newspaper-row.html

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. Gloucester, Massachusetts Directories, 1888-91 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2003.

The Lawrence Directory 1881, No. XIV. By Sampson, Davenport & Co., Publishers of the Boston Directory, Boston Almanac and Business Directory, New-England Business Directory, Etc. Office, 155 Franklin Street, Boston. Lawrence:  W. E. Rice, 265 Essex Street. Page 252. (Google eBooks)

Faith

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Old card,  circa 1890s – 1910.

Price:  $5.00       Size:  About 2 and 1/2 x 4.”

“The just shall live by faith. – Heb. 10.38.”

Small card with bible verse, possibly from the Victorian Era. Maybe it was used as a calling card. It has the name Walter Hartwell written on the back. This wonderful image was surprisingly hard to describe at first, but denotes faith. The verse, combined with the image, to me means that the continued practice of honesty and kindness bring faith, faith then carries us and protects us, allows us to see the sweetness in life and to know that we are never alone. The card shows a little girl in winter taking a break from picking holly (per the basket beside her). It’s lightly snowing and she is sitting on the ground, under her umbrella, which is keeping off the snow. Two birdies have come to greet her. Though she is not dressed in fine clothes or even very warmly, we can see by her beautiful expression that she is spiritually rich and walks in faith.

B. J. Stone Trade Card, New Haven, CT

B. J. Stone Trade Card

Trade card, circa 1882 – 1883.  Printed by Donaldson Bros., Five Points, New York.

Price:  $10.00       Size:  About 4 and 1/2 x 3″

“Celluloid Waterproof Collars, Cuffs and Shirt Bosoms for sale by B. J. Stone, 352 Chapel cor. of Church St., New Haven, Conn.” B. J. Stone appears in New Haven city directories, under the heading of “Gents’ Furnishings Goods” and “Shirt Manufacturers.” The 1882 city directory, in particular, has an ad showing “B. J. Stone (successor to Smith & Stone) Men’s Fine Furnishings, 352 Chapel St., cor. Church, New Haven, Ct., Shirts made to Order a Specialty”  This card is probably from around 1882 or ’83 as some of the other city directories (1884 – ’86) show 870 Chapel as the address. Notice how the canopy of the umbrella and soles of the girl’s shoes are a shirt collar and cuffs – waterproof!

The 1880 U.S. Federal Census for New Haven shows that B. J. is Benjamin J. Stone, born about 1839 in Connecticut, and shows him on this census living with his parents, Benjamin W. Stone, and Elizabeth J. Also in the household is brother George, his wife Mary, and their son George.

Sources:  New Haven, Connecticut city directories, for years 1882 – 1886 (1821 – 1989 U.S. City Directories, Ancestry.com)

1880 United States Federal Census for New Haven, Connecticut (Ancestry.com)