Monthly Archives: July 2023

Russian Photography House of V. T. Koksharova

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Real Photo Postcard. Russia, postal stamps removed. Date unknown.

Price:  $20.00

A rare find…..

We don’t come across many old postcards of photographers’ business locations in North America, and I’m guessing it’s probably the same situation for Russian cards. The lettering for the photography business is very stylized, gorgeous really, with that 3-D effect and “snow-covered” look, as well. Someone had put some thought behind it.

The sign on top of the building, ФОТОГРАФІЯ translates as Photography. And underneath is the name В. Т. КОКШАРОВА which, in English, is V. T. Koksharova. Underneath this name, at street level and in the glass-covered box, the photographer has displayed some examples of his work.

The reverse, help us out here please! anyone who can identify this language and can read it. The script is too much to try to decipher without having any background knowledge to draw from. Likewise, I won’t pretend to be a student of Russian architecture, but it seems obvious we’ve got some different styles, and it looks like the upper glass-walled portion was built on later. Great details in the intricately carved  wooden railing or roof topping – likely there is a proper term for that. And just thinking….maybe this was the man’s home on our right, with those beautiful lace curtains showing, and then studio attached.

Belgrade Boy, Circa 1910’s

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1910’s. Belgrade,Yugoslavia.

Price:  $5.00          Size:  About 2 and 1/2 x 3 and 3/8″

Blonde tousled hair, a boy of about ten years old, has a nice smile for the camera on a sunny day…..The alternate name for this post is “Belgrade Boy With Balloon, Minus the Balloon.” 🙂

On the reverse is written,  “Mediterranean Belgarde.”  Not finding anything under Belgarde, we have to presume it’s a misspelling of Belgrade, now in Serbia, though at that time it would have been Yugoslavia. What was meant by “Mediterranean” is utterly unknown, as this city is nowhere near that body of water. Was it a section of Belgrade or a street name? We can’t find any reference.

As always, it’s nice to pick out details:  the pocket handkerchief in the boy’s sweater; we see that he carried a watch – there’s the chain (wonder what he carried in his other hand); the building across the street, probably a store, with only the last two letters (or so) of the company name showing – so, not really enough to get that tantalized feeling when you can almost read something; the automobile, we’ll skip the potential i.d. on this one – the image is a little blurry. And, of course, not a “detail” but that massive hunk of metal that was fashioned into a beautiful streetcar – imagine the weight of that thing….and our proximity to it – five or six steps and you can feel yourself grabbing the handrail and climbing aboard….

Vinita Belle Lowry

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Real Photo Postcard, 1919. Unused. ARTURA stamp box. 

Price:  $15.00

Such a cute baby and how excellent that the family member gave us the description on the reverse:

“Vinita Belle Lowry at the age of 13 months.”

Vinita Belle’s date of birth was February 22, 1918, so this photo then was taken in March of 1919. Her parents were Claud Lowry and Effie (Dickerson) Lowry. Find A Grave has a lot of information for the family including a long obit for Vinita. See link below:

Source:  Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38993488/vinita-kollmeyer: accessed 10 July 2023), memorial page for Vinita Lowry Kollmeyer (22 Feb 1918–25 Mar 2007), Find a Grave Memorial ID 38993488, citing Hazelwood Cemetery, Springfield, Greene County, Missouri, USA; Maintained by Judy Young (contributor 46792475).

Mazie

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1899 – 1905

Price:  $15.00                 Size:  About 2 and 5/8 x 4 and 1/4″

Mazie, a gorgeous girl wearing a large, dark-hued bow which is blending with her hair. Love that smile!

Only Mazie’s given name appears on the reverse, and no location. But by chance, something with the printing, “Indian Head Mills” had been laid face down on top of the photo and this wording transferred onto the image (appearing sideways on the wall to our right). Here’s a crop right side up, along with its mirror image via Photoshop. The much lighter printing is the same lettering reversed, so some family member at some point flipped the item over, the print being dark enough to still make a faint impression.

The Nashua Manufacturing Company of Nashua, New Hampshire had two Indian Head Mill locations, the original in Nashua and a second added in Cordova, Alabama, in 1898. (See link in sources.) Of course, the Mazie in this photograph doesn’t have to have been connected with either area, but we did find a Mazie Louise Jones, born 1889, who married Monroe Wesley Akins. He was born in Cordova, and his WWI Draft Registration in 1918 shows he and Mazie were there, farming.

Below, a couple of articles from Alabama newspapers in January 1898:

Sources:  “A Walk Through Time – Indian Head Mill, Cordova.” 78mag.com. (Accessed July 4, 2023.)

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34014225/mazie-louise-akins: accessed 02 July 2023), memorial page for Mazie Louise Jones Akins (21 Sep 1889–Oct 1956), Find a Grave Memorial ID 34014225, citing Union Chapel Cemetery, Union Chapel, Walker County, Alabama, USA; Maintained by Ed Stallings (contributor 46921758).

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Registration State: Alabama; Registration County: Walker County.

“Indian Head Mills.” The Vernon Courier, January 27, 1898. Thursday, p. 1. (Newspapers.com).

“Making Cloth For China – The Cloth’s Name.” The Birmingham News, January 25, 1898. Tuesday, p. 5. (Newspapers.com).

Little Campers, Rio Grande Canyon, 1930

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Old photo, white border, 1930.

Price:  $10.00            Size:  2 and 11/16 x 2 and 11/16″

“Billy Welsh and Lora Lou Mead at 6 a.m. by Campfire in Rio Grande Canyon near Taos N. Mex in 1930.”

Ha, Billy’s got that, “I need to adjust this campfire” look. Smoke’s probably getting to him a little. Lora Lou with that bonnet definitely has the old-time pioneer look. Pretty cute picture, for sure.

We’re not coming up with an exact match for Lora Lou in online records. (She was the hopeful.) And predictably, there are too many possibilities for Billy.