Mae at the Iowa River Dam, Iowa City, 1908

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Divided Back, Real Photo Postcard. Postmarked January 15, 1908, Iowa City, Iowa.

Price:  $15.00                Size:  About 5 x 3 and 1/2″. Card is slightly cropped. 

For old times sake…….

Addressed to:   “Mr. L. G. Johnson. Denver Colo. Box 4. 40th St.Station.”

The sender wrote:   “For old times sake I send you this. Mae.”

The Iowa River is a tributary of the Mississippi and measures about 323 miles long. We found some similar images in old postcards currently on eBay and then the ad below from Duluth Lumber in 1909 confirming that Mae’s location was indeed the Iowa City Dam, today called the Burlington Street Dam. The building in the background should be the power station. And enlarge the postcard twice to get a much better view of Mae’s hat. (It’s quite nice!)

Sources:  Iowa River. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_River (accessed September 17, 2023).

Burlington Street Dam. https://www.iowawhitewater.org/lhd/LHDburlingtonst.html (accessed September 19, 2023).

Duluth Lumber Co. Ad. Iowa City Press-Citizen. March 12, 1909. Friday, p. 3. (Newspapers.com).

A Moment’s Rest

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Real Photo Postcard, unused. Stamp box:  DOPS. Circa 1925 – 1942.

Price:  $8.00

Is this us? Shelter in a storm, surrounded by the chaos of life. Just a breather for a minute. Yeah, it feels like it, and I’m with ya.

The time frame on this one comes from the great Playle’s website re Real Photo Stamp Boxes.

Source:  “Real Photo Postcard Stamp Boxes – D-E.” https://www.playle.com/realphoto/photod.php (accessed September 11, 2023).

To Flem Grizzle, Gas City, Kansas

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Divided Back postcard, embossed. Postmarked Tioga, Texas, August 23, 1909. Printed in Germany. 

Price:  $15.00

To My Dear Uncle…..

Great color on this one and a welcome change from the black and white entries we’ve been posting!

Addressed to:   “Flem Grizzle. Gas City, Kans.”

The note on the back is a little hard to decipher. Best guess is:   “Hello. How are you. Bef. noon [?] rec your card and [?] & [?] got [?] Harold picture. They are nice. Wish I was up there with you all. I am at home to night and have been all day alone. Ernest and Willie have gone out [with?] their girls. [?]. Yours [?].

Flem was Jesse Flem Grizzle, born October 13, 1871, Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. He married Ida M. (maiden name unknown) about 1894. From the obit below and several census records, it appears that they had two children, Edith and Harold.

Sources: U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936 – 2007. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Rose Hill, Johnson, Missouri; Roll: 868; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0114; FHL microfilm: 1240868. (Ancestry.com).

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Iola City Directory, 1906, p. 110. Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822 – 1995.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Carlyle, Allen, Kansas; Roll: T625_522; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 1. (Ancestry.com).

“Jesse F. Grizzle Dies Here Today.” The Iola Register. May 6, 1953. Wednesday, p. 1. (Newspapers.com).

Ruins in Old Panama City

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1931 – mid-1930’s.

Price:  $10.00        Size:  2 and 5/8 x 4 and 3/8″

This photo’s reverse shows,  “Castle in Old Panama City destroyed by Morgan the pirate.” It was year 1671 when the city was sacked by Morgan’s forces, as part of the Anglo-Spanish War, and perhaps “castle” is not quite the correct term – the Wikipedia entry has “cathedral.”  Morgan was Welsh-born privateer Henry Morgan who later became Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica.

Panama Viejo or Old Panama was the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Ocean, and dates back to 1519. Today, located in the eastern suburbs of Panama City, it’s a major tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I was guessing 1920’s or early ’30’s for this photo but a couple of forum readers at the Antique Automobile Club of America narrowed it down for us. The car is a 1931 Chevy, so the photo’s ’31 through probably the mid-’30’s.

Sources:  Panamá Viejo. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panam%C3%A1_Viejo (accessed September 8, 2023).

“Old Car from the 1920’s or ’30’s. Help to i.d.” September 5, 2023. Antique Automobile Club of America. (https://forums.aaca.org/topic/403154-old-car-from-the-1920s-or-30s-help-to-id/#comment-2578340).

Henry Morgan. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan (accessed September 8, 2023).

Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1913 – 1920s.

Price:  $10.00            Size:  2 and 5/8 x 3 and 3/4″

At first glance I thought there had been a film developing problem that created that “streaky” look – like one of those photo tricks where points of lights become lines (called optical flares). But, not at all, and happily, someone has given us the description on the reverse. So, this is a shot of the Miraflores Locks in Panama. Out of curiosity, I Googled the query of “how many locks are at the Panama Canal” and found the varied responses of three, six and twelve. Confused? Me, too. From Wikipedia:  

“There are twelve locks in total. A two-step flight at Miraflores and a single flight at Pedro Miguel lift ships from the Pacific up to Gatun Lake; then a triple flight at Gatun lowers them to the Atlantic side.” 

From Design of the Locks:  

“All lock chambers have the same 110 by 1,000 feet dimensions, and they are built in pairs. That is, two lanes of chambers run side by side to accommodate two lanes of traffic, either in opposite directions at the same time or in the same direction, depending on transit needs.”

So, multiply the six by two due to the two-lane accommodation. The Miraflores Locks were completed in May 1913 and part of the original three constructed; the others being Gatun and Pedro Miguel. Since then there has been a Canal Expansion Project that included a new set of locks and was completed in 2017. The expanded canal is also called the Third Set of Locks but this apparently derives from the expansion creating a third lane. (But shouldn’t the number of locks answer be updated? Admittedly, I seem to have gotten stuck in a weird number-of-locks-vortex ;-). I’ll leave all that with you guys, if you’re so inclined.) See below for some interesting reading.

Sources:  Design of the Locks. https://pancanal.com/en/design-of-the-locks/ (accessed August 15, 2023).

Miraflores (Panama). n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraflores_(Panama) (accessed August 15, 2023).

Panama Canal locks. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_locks (accessed August 15, 2023).

The Expanded Panama Canal. March 31, 2019. https://pa.usembassy.gov/the-expanded-panama-canal/ (accessed September 3, 2023).

Steamer White Horse on the Yukon River

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1901 – 1910’s.

Price:  $15.00            Size:  About 3 and 1/2 x 2 and 1/2″   

The sternwheeler White Horse pushing a load of lumber on the Yukon River….

Our photo above, as usual, was resized for the web and though you can enlarge the image (twice) the boat’s name (on the pilothouse) still won’t be readable. Below, a crop of the larger image size – here you may be able to make out what looks like “Horse” or “Morse.” Checking online, there were some possibilities under Morse but not being really convinced, I tried Horse and then thought of what might precede that word. This is the type where you can look at something fifteen times, give up, glance one last time and suddenly it seems to come into focus. (Maybe it’s intuition, I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s always most welcome!)

White Horse, later Whitehorse, was a sternwheel paddle steamer built in 1901 by the British Yukon Navigation Co. Her last trip on the river was made in 1955. See an excellent article on the Explore North website for details, including a timeline of some of her adventures and fate after retirement.

Below, an article from The Vancouver Sun, June 1916. In this neck of the woods it’s all about the ice:

Sources:  Lundberg, Murray. The Sternwheeler White Horse (later Whitehorse). https://explorenorth.com/library/ships/white_horse.html. (accessed August 13, 2023).

“Yukon River is Open Through to Dawson; Navigation Starts.”  The Vancouver Sun, June 5, 1916. Monday, p. 1. (Newspapers.com).

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).