Friday 9 July 2010

Look what I've got!



I found it in a secondhand bookshop, among lots and lots of postcards.
(I also brought some of the postcards home.)

I think the dress is really pretty. What I see of it. Her hairstyle is quite interesting, too. And, of course, it's a lovely vintage photo of a young mother with her child and that's sweet in itself.

How old do you think it is? 1910s? Early 1920s?

7 comments:

  1. The quality of the photo says mid to late 1800s for me, civil war era in the US. But so much depends on the environment that the photo was kept in, so either one of us could be off by 30 or 40 years.

    Cute that you can even see the necklace the baby has a hold of! And that is quite the embroidery she has on her lapels (right word?). Always exciting finding old pictures!

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  2. I'd say very late 1800s or early 1900s. It would help to know how big it is and if there is a back mark. It is definitely not pre-1890s. The photograph has no border Does it have post card markings on the back?

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  3. i was thinking 1890s also. but i have no fact to back that up. i just thought a number, and clicked on the comments to see if i was close.

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  4. OK. It does have postcard markings on the back, and the name of the photographer + place printed (with some kind of stamp, most probably) in the upper left corner: "V. BAYER FOTOGRAF. TEPLÁ." - mind you, I'm Czech, and the photo is Czech, too. (I'm slightly guessing at Teplá - it seems somebody started writing something on it in a pencil and then changed their mind, and now the graphite is smeared around that area.)
    It's approx. 8,6 cm x 13,6 cm.
    I think part of its current state comes from the bookshop - it's just a kiosk on a railway station and it was stored in a rather small box really full of postcards, and people who flipped through it probably didn't help.

    I personally, being the historical clothing lover that I am, think 1910s. The clothing's too lose and comfortable-looking to be Victorian in my opinion, and the hairstyle looks newer to me, too.


    Rachael, I think in this case it's simply called collar. ;-) Although, I'm Czech, so who knows.

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  5. Yup, that outfit is absolutely somewhere between 1910 and 1920, and so is her hair. The camera may be older, but the outfit isn't. :)

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  6. I'm with Mrs C. In fact, I'd date the dress to 1917-1919 with reasonable certainty. The photo may be slightly more recent

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  7. Fantastic! Thank you! I had a similar feeling about it, but I do not have the certainty.

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