Portal Morelos, Puebla, México

Posted on April 7, 2022 by Annieoakley

Real Photo Postcard, unused. Circa 1931. EKKP stamp box. Publisher: La Compañía México Fotográfico (MF).

Price: $15.00

This is a great photo with lots to look at. The publisher could have “edited out” the dog in the picture and thankfully, chose not to. There’s our guy, (dog, not publisher!) with a happy expression, making his way down, what is almost the center of the road, traveling the opposite way, on what seems to be a one-way street. He looks a little on the skinny side, so we hope he had good life from here on, with lots of good meals.

The estimate for our postcard’s age comes from looking at the license plate on the car to our far right. This appears to be year 1931, but we’ll research the years and models of the cars to help with this question.

Destinos México has some info and a modern-day photo of one of the Portals (not sure which one) in Puebla. And I think the use of the word portal (entrance way) comes from the architecture – the archways all along the storefronts.

And, if you’re like me, you see faces seemingly everywhere. Here’s a fun one:

How about that “dish” type of thing on top of one of the far buildings? My best guess is that this was for some type of radio reception, unless it was showing advertising of some sort:

Lastly, of note, is the publisher logo, MF: You may have seen this on many Mexican postcards. It stands for La Compañía México Fotográfico, and was founded in 1925 by Demetrio Sánchez Ortega. From the Revistas Inah website, see Mayra N. Uribe Eguiluz’s beautiful article “La Compañía México Fotográfico en la política de turismo nacional de los años veint.” (The Mexico Photographic Company in the national tourism policy from the twenties.) The essay is in Spanish (I’m not bilingual so I Google translated some of it, but it shows a photo of the building the company was housed in, with the company’s very recognizable, stylized logo on the facade, as well as a couple of other interesting photos.) The “21” showing here was likely just a production or series number, as per the norm for postcards.

Sources: Portal (architecture). n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_(architecture) (accessed April 4, 2022).

“The Portals of Puebla.”Destinos México. (programadestinosmexico-com.). Accessed April 4, 2022.

Uribe Eguiluz, Mayra N. “La Compañía México Fotográfico en la política de turismo nacional de los años veint.” https://revistas.inah.gob.mx/ (accessed April 4, 2022).

Afraid To Go Near It

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Annieoakley

Divided back, unused postcard. Artist: William Standing. Publisher: Dennis Delger. 1948. Western Stationery Co., Yachats, Oregon.

Price: $7.00

“Me Too But I’m Afraid To Go Near It.”

A humorous card of a totem pole and two dogs….taken from the original etching by Indian artist, William Standing (1904 – 1951).

Source: William Standing. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Standing (accessed March 1, 2020.).

An Old Outbuilding

Posted on September 16, 2018 by Annieoakley

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, unused. Circa 1907 – 1910s.

Price: $4.00

Rural America….a glimpse back

This postcard’s pretty beat up but still, or probably partly because of that, I love it. I love the pattern in the wooden shingles on the face of the, what would one call this, big shed? (Guess that’s why outbuilding works so well 😉 ) Maybe it was used for storage, or was once a chicken coop, though no evidence of chickens at this time. If you click to enlarge, and look inside, you can see what looks like a patchwork quilt covering up something. I love the window that looks like it was thrown together (sorry to whoever built it) and the short boards underneath the one end to make it all somewhat level. (Was it built that way or shored up later after heavy rains?) And last but not least, the young woman, laughing, the little girl with her toy wheeled cart, and their dog (caught in the middle of a bark or a yawn.) It’s a happy photo, and a glimpse back a hundred years or so, of life on the farm.

Mystery Language

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Annieoakley

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. AZO stamp box. Circa 1904 – 1918. Printed in Canada.

Availability Status: SOLD

The snow is piled up in front of two stylish ladies (check out all the trim on the young woman’s coat) who have posed for this photo. Their dog is beside them, and prominent in the background is what looks to be a church, just from the shape of the windows, and next to the church, a house. The branches of the bare trees are beautiful in this scene, too. Possibly the postcard photo originated in the same area as the sender’s address, so the card may be of historical interest for Saskatoon history buffs, as well as any Abrams descendants.

Baffled….for now

But the note from the sender of this card is a stumper. What language is it written in? Deciphering can be tricky for old postcards in other languages due to abbreviations and sometimes misspelled words or former spellings of words used, let alone a person’s particular style of cursive, although the name and address are easily read on this one as: “Mrs. Wm. Abrams, Saskatoon, Sask.” Here’s the puzzle of words, flipped upright:

Without being able to decipher but one or two words on the back (if that) we turned to searching for the receiver of this card to find their native tongue as stated on census records. There is a William Abrams and his wife Maria and their children listed on the 1911 and 1916, residing in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. This would coincide with the postcard date of circa 1904 to 1918, per the AZO stamp box (all four triangles pointing upward, along with divided back starting December 1903 in Canada.) William was born in Russia and Maria in Germany. William’s declaration of intent, in his U. S. naturalization process, appears to show that he was born in Ekaterinoslav, Russia, which is now called Dnipro and lies within Ukraine….No other possible Abrams were found to fit our postcard, so this is all good info, even though it doesn’t help us figure out the writing on the back. Hopefully, we’ll get some help on the translation from somewhere!

Sources: Year: 1911; Census Place: 30 – Saskatoon Ward 1, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Page: 26; Family No: 236. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1916; Census Place: Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, 03B; Roll: T-21944; Page: 22; Family No: 247. (Ancestry.com).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Naturalization Records of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, Central Division (Los Angeles), 1887-1940; Microfilm Roll: 21; Microfilm Serial: M1524.

Dnipro. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnipro (accessed January 16, 2018).

W. J. & Family At Old Home On Colorado

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Annieoakley

Photo from 1911 printed to canvas on wooden board and frame

Price: $20.00 Size: 10 x 7 and 3/4″

Condition: Some scratches, markings and canvas tears

Surname mystery

This was an unusual find at, it was either an antique store or a thrift store. (Yikes, I guess this means I have to start writing them all down.) So, it was somebody’s cool idea to take an old family photo (their family or one they just found and liked) and have the image transferred to a canvas (or canvas-like) type of surface. It was then glued onto a thin board on a wooden frame, so that it could go up on that person’s wall. (Now it’s on mine.) It’s the fourth for me, of those that are not family but have become family. A couple have names but nobody’s claimed them yet, another has no name, and then there’s this one: What in the world is this family’s surname? Ferris, Harris, Ferix misspelled as Farrix (can’t find surname Farrix). Even with a magnifying glass, and in the sunlight, it’s hard to say. The location could be almost anywhere, too, since it appears to say “on Colorado” rather than in Colorado or on the Colorado, as in River. Well, but whoever they are, they’re a beautiful group of seven people and two dogs (didn’t the dogs do well to not move too much while the photo was being taken? 🙂 ) Love that wooden fence, and the porch running the length of the house. The home seems to have been pretty big, and it’s rustic-looking. Was it originally a log cabin? We can’t see the details. You’ll notice a windmill behind the house on the right. But, it really strikes me with an impression so significant, a feeling that we could wave to the family and they’d wave back across this current span (insignificant, really) of six and one hundred (going old-school here) years.

Twelve In A Skiff

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Annieoakley

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

Price: $4.00

A nice family photo made into a postcard, circa 1907 – 1918, showing twelve family members in a skiff named Elizabeth, either just about to head out on the water or just returned. Most likely the latter though because there’s the family dog, laying down in the sand (tired after all the excitement, swimming, etc?) and there’s one of the kids huddled in a towel. This RPPC would be a nice reference for the era’s bathing suits, family outings at the lake, and that type of thing. Love those bathing caps!

Dog And Skier, Finnish Handicraft Series

Posted on May 13, 2017 by Annieoakley

Divided back, artist-signed, unused postcard. Finnish Handicraft Series. Circa 1950s – 1980s.

Price: $20.00

The date is unknown for this postcard, as no other cards were found online under any form of the back description:

Finnish Handcraft Series. Hemslöjdsföreningarnas Centralförbunds serie. Kotiteollisuusjärjestöjen Keskusliiton sarja. Maybe 1950s – 1980s as a broad guess. The artist’s initials “H. T.” appear at the bottom-left of the cross-country ski scene. Underneath are a reindeer and tree motif and above a diamond pattern. This is just a beautiful card. And that’s a Sami (Saami) man in traditional dress with a Four Winds Hat. I love the dog in mid-spring! as in bounce, that is. If you’re weary, the dog’s exuberance will rejuvenate you!

Sources: Four Winds Hat. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people (accessed May 13, 2017).

Sami People. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people (accessed May 13, 2017).

Of Gaiters And Dairy Ranches

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Annieoakley

Divided back, used, embossed postcard. Postmarked January 3, 1933 from Buhl, Idaho. Number 327. Publisher unknown.

Price: $4.00

Best New Years Wishes…

“To you dear friend

Sincere Greetings

I fondly send

This New Years Day.”

Well, we’re late in posting this per the above sentiment, but what a cute card, and I got to wondering if the little girl was wearing spats (the yellow footwear with side buttons) – but no, spats (short for spatterdashes) or at least how we think of them today, were the shorter, over the ankle covers, so we would call these gaiters. It seems like the term gaiter underwent a full circle, first found in reference to how troops were outfitted, and per the article below, used for warmth as well as for spatter guards.

From The Pennsylvania Gazette in 1760.

19th-century ads for gaiters reveal various types….canvas, silk, lasting, button, laced, Congress, heeled (that gave it away right there)….come to find out gaiters had by then, become the popular word used to describe a half-boot form reminiscent of that two-tone affect where the leggings met over the shoe. But the word was also used loosely, for example, Congress gaiters were really a half-boot, of a style very common today.

Below, an advertisement from The Louisville Courier (Louisville KY). What’s “chrap” in the top ad? It was a little disappointing to find this was just a misprint!

From the website American Duchess some beautiful photos of women’s footwear in the category in question: “Extant Victorian Side-Lacing Gaiters.”

Last but not least, and returning from our tangent above: We get a kick out of Hazel’s casual-sounding promise of the hopeful future endeavor outlined in her note. Did she find one? Whether she did or did not, we like her style. You go, girl!

“Dear Aunt Alice & all. I do hope you will all have a better year than the one ending. I am coming down there this summer and hunt me a dairy ranch. Love – Hazel.”

Addressed to: “Mrs. Alice Ellison, 1015 O St., Sacramento, California.”

Sources: The Pennsylvania Gazette. April 24, 1760, Thursday. p. 2 (Newspapers.com)

“Extant Victorian Side-Lacing Gaiters.” January 13, 2014. American Duchess. Historical Costuming. (americanduchess.blogspot.com) Accessed January 11, 2017.

The Louisville Daily Courier. May 31, 1849, Thursday. p. 2 (Newspapers.com)

“My Dog and I”

Posted on July 9, 2016 by Annieoakley

Set of two photos, circa 1920s, of girl and puppy.

Price: $3.00 Size: About 2 and 7/8 x 2″ each.

Apparently, the grammar is incorrect, as it’s supposed to be “my dog and me.” Take out “dog” and you wouldn’t name the photo “I” 🙂 but I didn’t know that either, till I looked it up. Proof we’ve been confused for decades on this point, I guess. But how adorable are these photos: young girl with a bobbed haircut, in her backyard, bottle-feeding her little puppy.

Stilt House, 1907

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Annieoakley

A Real Photo Postcard showing a sepia-toned, faded image of four men, one woman and a small dog, posed in front of a home on stilts. The very faint writing, in pencil at the bottom, says, “taken during Dec. 1907.” The location is unknown, somewhere in the U. S. we presume, though unless it was in the South, it seems to have been unseasonably warm for December, since the group is all in shirtsleeves. Here is the image darkened in Photoshop:

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Dated December 1907. AZO stamp box.

Price: $5.00

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Category Archives: Dogs

Portal Morelos, Puebla, México

Afraid To Go Near It

An Old Outbuilding

Mystery Language

W. J. & Family At Old Home On Colorado

Twelve In A Skiff

Dog And Skier, Finnish Handicraft Series

Of Gaiters And Dairy Ranches

“My Dog and I”

Stilt House, 1907