A Hidden Doorway

Divided Back, Real Photo Postcard, unused. Deckled edge. Circa 1910’s. Photographer:  E. Hunter, Schlettstadt. Pt. 773/II. 

Price:  $15.00

An unusual photographic pose if we ever saw one! The whimsical Augustine, wife of Julien Duller, pauses at a “doorway,” her left hand is on the invisible door nob. She’s smiling (with sort of a “knowing” look) back at the camera.

The date is unknown for this card:  The stamp box, one we’ve never come across, is blank except for a small six-pointed star in each of the bottom corners. But we’ll estimate the 1910’s due to the subject’s dress – fitted, column-style in dark wool or maybe linen or heavy cotton; displaying a shawl collar in silk or satin with matching material in a wide band below the bust line; and decorative bands on hip and sleeves. The dress falls below mid-calf to reveal high button-top boots. Her hair is dressed in a short side-part, (dig that one falling curl) up-swept and piled tightly on top for a little height. On her right hand, she wears a pocket watch that was converted into a wristwatch. In the insert below, you can see what’s referred to as “the bow,” which is the part that the chain would have been suspended from – a nice, surprising detail, and possibly an important clue to the postcard’s date, as it was WWI that ushered in the popularity of the wristwatch.

The photographer, E. Hunter, was not found online in any references, but his stamp tells us he was in Schlettstadt, (Sélestat in French and Schlettstàdt in Alsatian) a town in the Grand Est region of France, on the border of Germany.

As for those few words from Augustine, in her beautiful script:  I’m not sure what the first word is but the next would be andenkenand the third looks like genidmet:  translation from German appearing as “souvenir” and “dedicated.” So it’s probably something in the nature of “fond remembrances” but maybe a native German (or Alsation?) can help us out.

Sources:  Pocket watch. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_watch#:~:text=In%20men’s%20fashions  %2C%20pocket%20watches,one%20kept%20in%20a%20pocket. (accessed April 30, 2023).

Sélestat. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9lestat (accessed April 30, 2023).

Miss Lila Sears, Portland, Oregon

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Divided Back, Real Photo Postcard, unused. AZO stamp box. Photographer:  Bicknell. Circa 1916 – 1918.

Price:  $15.00      

Embossed on the front lower right is the photographer info:   “Bicknell. 326 1/2 Washington St. Portland Ore.”

Miss Lila, very smartly attired and posing rather somberly for the camera, was born in California, October 1894, the daughter of Benjamin F. Sears and Jennifer Wotton. She married Harry W. Kelley, May 7, 1921, in Portland. The date for this postcard has been narrowed down with the help of Playles.com (AZO stamp boxes all four triangles pointing upward are as late as 1918) and the photographer’s address.

The Bicknell Studio

The photography studio of Bicknell would have been Wilfred Bicknell and his wife, Pearl. They’re both listed as photographers on the 1910 Federal Census for Portland. He born in England about 1875, and she born in Oregon about 1881. The Portland city directories start online from 1906 for Wilfred; address 203 1/2 1st Street. By 1909 we’re seeing an additional address for the studio of 214 Merchants Trust Building, switching to 210 Merchants Trust by 1911. (No city directories were found for 1910.)

In 1919, Wilfred married Mayme H. Thuener, August 11, 1919 in Marin County, California. No records were found for a divorce or death for Pearl.

Curiously, no references were found for the 326 1/2 Washington Street, Portland address that’s embossed on the postcard.

When the WWI Draft Registration Card was recorded, Wilfred was in San Francisco, CA. This record shows his date of birth as December 28, 1874. He’s working as a photographer for employer, Charles Bossum at 25 Kearney St. Then 1920 census for Stockton, CA, shows Wilfred is as owner of a photography gallery.

By 1930, Wilfred has run into some tough times. At the time of this census, taken in Stockton, CA, he is a patient at the state mental hospital. (It makes one wonder how much exposure he may have had to chemicals and/or heavy metals from his occupation.)

Sources:  “Real Photo Postcard Stamp Boxes, A – B.” https://www.playle.com/realphoto/photoa.php. (access April 23, 2023).

Oregon Center For Health Statistics; Portland, Oregon, USA; Oregon State Marriages, 1911-1945 (Ancestry.com).

Oregon State Archives; Salem, Oregon; Oregon, Death Records, 1864-1967. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Portland Ward 5, Multnomah, Oregon; Roll: T624_1286; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0159; FHL microfilm: 1375299. (Ancestry.com).

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Portland, Oregon city directories, 1906 – 1916. (Ancestry.com).

Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1850-1941.

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Stockton Ward 4, San Joaquin, California; Roll: T625_144; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 177. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1930; Census Place: Stockton, San Joaquin, California; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 0050; FHL microfilm: 2339947. (Ancestry.com).

Martha Reifschneider

Divided Back, Real Photo Postcard, unused. KRUXO stamp box, circa 1908 – 1910.

Price:  $15.00

Portrait of a beautiful young woman, in satin dress with tucks and a ruffled high lace collar…..

This particular KRUXO stamp box, with four-leaf clovers in each corner, is known to be from 1908 – 1910. Here’s the name written on the back:

As you can see, the ending of the surname is a little run together, however, we’re not finding any other potential matches under name variations.
And there’s no guarantee, but still we feel pretty confident that we have the right person in the details below:

Martha is the daughter of George Reifschneider and Katrina Redder, both German emigrants. (The Redder surname is from Ancestry.com family trees.) Martha was born in Iowa about May of 1890. She married Carl Sietmann March 9, 1910 at the home of her parents in Blairstown, Missouri.

Sources:  “K-L. Real Photo Postcard Stamp Boxes.” Playle.com. Accessed April 11, 2023.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Jefferson, Marshall, Iowa; Roll: 447; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 0109. (Ancestry.com).

“Laurel Couple Weds.” Evening Times-Republican (Marshalltown, Iowa). March 16, 1910. Wednesday, p. 9. (Newspapers.com).

Easter Egg Lithograph

Egg-shaped lithograph. Publisher unknown. Circa 1880’s- 1910.

Price:  $5.00           Size:  2 and 5/8 x 4″

Well! Holidays catch me behind lately with posting, so this one was for Easter, which was yesterday. (Happy belated.) This is a pretty cool one, one you don’t see everyday, and obviously someone else thought so, too. It was found in an antique store in Nevada:  In pink on white, a couple of decorated bands and then a sunburst at one end and star-shape on the other (on the star I keep flashing back to the drug store, circa 1960’s, begging my mom for one of those plastic balls that always seemed to have a similar design at each end). The egg is cracked to reveal a new day dawning (in general and for Easter) on a lake scene in the mountains……with a small, simple house and a much grander church, gleaming and beckoning from the other side of the water. It’s really not very high-end work but it’s the idea that makes it. Is that supposed to be a figure of a person, standing, looking out across the water? And note the use of the shadows on the egg, to give it dimension.

Palo Cathedral, Leyte, Philippines, Circa 1945

Two old photos, Palo Cathedral, Leyte, Philippines. Circa 1945.

Price for the pair:  $10.00         Sizes:  Photo with soldier, about 2 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/8″

Photo of cathedral, about 4 and 11/16 x 2 and 7/8″

The reverse of the photo (without the soldier) shows handwritten:   “Palo, Leyte:  I went to church here the 17th of June 1945.”  

The first church at this location is said to have been built by the Jesuits in either 1596 or 1598. It’s unclear in sources when the Spanish-style structure we see in the two photos above was constructed, (or whether the center portion was the original, though we might assume not due to the history of most early church buildings starting on a smaller scale) however, it is known that the towers were not added until about 1850. It was not until 1938 that the church was declared a cathedral. During WWII the building was used as a hospital by the American Liberation Forces from October 1944 to March 1945. We can see evidence of hospital and military with the Red Cross truck, the tents on our right, and of course, the soldiers and jeeps. Presumably the guy posing for this shot is the one who wrote the inscription on the second photo’s reverse. If you don’t know the history (as I did not) of the Philippine Islands involvement during the war, please see the first source below. If you can pardon a bit of social commentary here from my North American vantage point, it’s important to understand what went on there – to go beyond in our thought process and not just link the country in our minds with the overseas workers we often get routed to today due to outsourcing.

Present-day, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lord’s Transfiguration, also referred to as Palo Metropolitan Cathedral or just Palo Cathedral:  In the 1960’s the cathedral was demolished and rebuilt into what we see below in this Google images search. The cathedral was “roofless” for a short time after the damage (and tragic loss of lives) inflicted November 2013 by Typhoon Haiyan aka Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Sources:  “Liberation of the Philippines, 1945.” Gaerlan, Cecilia. nationalww2museum.org. September 1, 2020. Accessed April 9, 2023.

Palo Cathedral. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Cathedral (accessed April 10, 2023).

“images of palo cathedral leyte.” Google.com search. Accessed April 9, 2023.

Domed Building in the Middle East

Old photo, white border. Circa 1910s – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00        Size:  3 and 1/4 x 2 and 7/16″

Continuing with sort of an archway theme from preceding posts…..In an unknown location, a goat herd directs his charges up the road.

We’re guessing this scene was somewhere in the Middle East due to the architecture of the stone building with dome. (Tunisia comes to mind but I’m not too certain if the terrain matches.) And, perhaps this was a mosque however we don’t see a minaret which would often be in evidence. We can see that there’s been some additional work on the building:  a half-circle arch was filled in with stone (a lighter color or less weathered by time) and a window added; and maybe some earlier work was done there, too – that portion may have initially been an entrance way.

Street Shrine in Moscow, Russia

Old photo, white border. Circa 1910’s.

Price:  $15.00           Size:  1 and 3/4″ x 3 and 3/4″

Found at an antique store in California….this snapshot has made its way to us from Moscow, Russia.

In a high and fairly deep archway is a Russian Orthodox shrine (note the shape of the cross) painted on wood we believe, of the crucifixion of Christ; it’s set up in front of a pair of tall, ornate double doors in wrought iron. Was this a permanent display or something temporary for Easter? No other photos were found online for this location, nor were surprisingly, any similar street shrines in Russia. But maybe not so surprising given the political situation that (not knowing the exact date of this photo, so speculating) was soon to be thrust upon the peoples of Russia:  We’ve estimated 1910’s for the photo due to the Bolshevik takeover in 1917 and the subsequent “attitudes” toward religion by the Communist regime. (See the first link in sources below for more.)

Signage in old photos is very often the key to finding a time-frame and pinpointing location, and you’ll have noticed the plaque affixed to the building on the other side of the enclave, but it’s partially cut off from our view, so we can’t see the full wording on it, nor what appears above that, rather faint, and then, of course, we’re only seeing the last couple of block letters in whatever is displayed there denoting something. I’m wondering if the whole building would have been a church or if that’s a storefront or something like that next to the shrine. But note the images of saints and angels appearing on the stonework surrounding the 3-d crucifixion depiction, leading us to think that at least part of the building was a house of worship.

Last, but most certainly not least:  the mustachioed gentleman standing, leaning a little, next to the archway, in suit and visored hat of the type you can find in other circa 1910’s and ’20’s Russian photos, and high peasant-type boots – he’s a working man, holding one of the tools of his trade, a hand-drill. And then, about to lumber into our view, a draft horse that would have been pulling a cart or wagon.

Below,a clipped view of a Google.com search for antique hand drills:

Sources: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union. n.d. (accessed April 2, 2023).

Nov 7, 1917 CE: October Revolution. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/october-revolution/ Accessed April 4, 2023.

“images of antique hand drills.” Google.com search. Accessed April 4, 2023.