Joy And Happiness

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Annieoakley

This card is probably vintage rather than antique; it appears to maybe be a copy, as the back of the card is white, rather than yellowed with age. If it is a copy, then I’d estimate the original to have been from about the 1880s – 1900. It shows a print of a little girl with rosy cheeks and light brown curls, wearing a yellow dress and white floppy hat and holding two red roses. Her image appears on the inside of an oval tambourine, the surface of which, (they call it the skin or membrane) has broken away to reveal the little girl. Above and below the tambourine are two bunches of grapes with their leaves, in two varieties. The phrase “To Wish You Joy and Happiness” appears on a rustic wood plank tied with a blue ribbon with the flower of one forget-me-not. I think this card’s design is perhaps linked to the grape harvest festival where this musical instrument may have been commonly played.

Vintage card. Date, artist and publisher unknown. Size: About 3 and 1/2 x 5 and 1/2″

Price: $5.00

Forget Me Not Annie Baxter

Quote

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Annieoakley

Two pages from autograph/souvenir type books from 1886. Artist and publisher unknown. Size: About 4 x 6 and 3/4″ each.

Availability status: SOLD

“Forget me not Miss Annie Baxter….”

“Dear Annie:

May friendship and

Truth be with you in

Youth and catnip and

Sage cheer up your

Old age.

– Harry L. Wiley, Beckville, Tex., May 10th /86″

“I now a secret will unfold

Long has it smothered been

Oh never yet has it been told

Valued by fears with in

Eternal life demand

You must my secret keep

Oh in your bosom let it swell

Unconcious let it sleep.

– Your Little Sister, E. L. B.” (middle initial L?)

A departure from our numerous postcards and photos, here are a couple of antique pages from a souvenir/autograph type book that would have been popular with students, from 1886. (Thank you Harry Wiley for recording the date and place.) Aren’t they beautiful, just look at those details! In the first one, two children, a little boy and an older girl are perched on a garden wall, watching some snails. Note the girl’s fingerless grey gloves, the lovely collars for both of them, and the hats (always hats!) There is writing on the back of this first card which is, “Dear Annie, May your honest endeavors be a ….” The writer did not finish this thought. The back wasn’t scanned – just to save having to fold the paper too much, and the poem recorded here by Annie’s sister was not found online, so is a mystery as far as name and author. Perhaps the sister was the poet? I must admit I don’t quite understand the poem; perhaps the subject of the verse is Love. The first poem is cute, and was one of a number of sayings written down by many a school chum, maybe at the end of the school year. The second card shows a drawing of pretty young mother, from inside the house, handing her daughter a rose through the open window. The little girl is out in the yard with the flowers and a rather large butterfly.

Harry Wiley is on the 1880 Federal Census for “Beat No. 2”, Panola County, Texas. He was born in Louisiana, about 1868. The census is: Sarah Baxter, widowed head of household; her daughter Ella, son Harry, stepson John Baxter, nephew Thomas Davis, and niece Ellen Riband[?] It would appear that Wiley would have possibly been Sarah Baxter’s first married name (but evidence was not found). Ancestry has a family tree that shows Annie Baxter born in Texas 1871, showing John Baxter as brother.

Sources: Year: Year: 1870; Census Place: Beat 2, Panola, Texas; Roll: M593_1601; Page: 265B; Image: 76; Family History Library Film: 553100. (Ancestry.com)

1880; Census Place: Precinct 2, Panola, Texas; Roll: 1322; Family History Film: 1255322; Page: 216C; Enumeration District: 061. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1900; Census Place: Cleburne, Johnson, Texas; Roll: 1649; Page: 21B; Enumeration District: 0057; FHL microfilm: 1241649. (Ancestry.com)

Amager Woman

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Annieoakley

Collectable card, circa 1880s to 1890s. Size: 5 and 1/2 x 3″

Price: $7.00

This was an unusual find that was tucked in a large group of old postcards for sale. It’s a cutout of a figure of a woman, (a cute little lady) wearing what was probably the typical dress of the day, and carrying a basket of fresh vegetables. Maybe she has just come from the market. The cutout was pasted onto the cardboard card, and the back shows that the same was done with the word “Amager,” so I think maybe this was part of a series available for collecting, showing different styles or traditional costumes from around the world, or perhaps just from many of the European countries. Amager is a Danish island in the Øresund, in which part of the Danish capital of Copenhagen is situated. The Øresund or Öresund, is a region spanning parts of Denmark and Sweden, centering on their two respective cities of Copenhagen and Malmö.

Sources: Amager. n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed 24 Aug 2014 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amager]

Øresund Region. n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed 24 Aug 2014 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98resund_Region]

Little Girl And Donkey

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Annieoakley

Old card, circa 1890s.

Price: $4.00 Size: 3 and 1/2 x 2 and 5/8″

Adorable small print of a little blond girl and her donkey. At least I think that’s a donkey. The girl wears a red dress and has her white apron extended for holding the greenery that the animal is eating. The donkey in particular has such a sweet expression. There is nothing on the back except for the markings of the scrap book glue, but someone surely appreciated this image since it’s survived for so long. Estimated date 1890’s.

George’s Handmade Card

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Annieoakley

Handmade card. Circa early 1900s. Size: About 3 and 1/2 x 5 and 1/2″

Price: $7.00

On the reverse: “Bessie Geo made this card.” “J. H. + ? ?”

It’s not often that you come across handmade cards and here’s a nice one, kind of funny, too. The artwork is pretty good, the leaves at the top, in particular. That would be a poinsettia in the gold heart, and of course a rose. If you can imagine one possibility for the life of this card: It gets made, maybe for Christmas, but not sent, handed off to some family member who’s going to use it later for Valentine’s Day. That person puts their initials and their sweetheart’s initials on it, “J. H. + “whoever.” Then the boyfriend or girlfriend falls out of favor, the initials get erased, (top left front) and J. H. decides he or she will leave this sweetheart question to be determined in the future. Later, another family member comes across it and sends it to Bessie. (See the writing on the left side of the back.) And how about that embossing, pretty good, eh?

Into The Envelope

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Annieoakley

Here’s an antique card, that must of at one time been in someone’s scrapbook, that has a theme along the lines of the prior post. I wanted to put this one up next for the sort of “before and after” effect. Similar examples can be found online of adorable children, cherubs, puppies, hearts, birds, etc. usually appearing as having traveled in the envelope to bring the sender’s good wishes, and sometimes bringing tokens of love or good luck, like the clover in the prior post. In this scene the artist playfully depicts a couple of cherubs: The one is just about to tumble into the opened envelope, while the other, looking back with a bit of an apologetic smile, tries (unsuccessfully we presume) to stop him. Black seems to be an odd color choice for the wax seal…..But anyway, for sure this will have to be a new sideline for Laurel Cottage – searching for more of these type at card shows and antique stores.

Price: $12.00 Size: About 3 x 4 and 1/2″ Circa 1890 – 1910.

Kitties On Moving Day

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Annieoakley

Non-postal card by artist Eugen Hartung. Publisher the Alfred Mainzer Co. Circa 1940s – 1950s.

Price: $2.00 digital image only

The “kitty kids” are having a high time of it here while the “kitty movers” are looking understandably a bit beleaguered. There’s the mom in the window (trying unsuccessfully to contain one of her charges?) and maybe that’s the dad trying to help, but tripping with the stack of dishes. This is one of the many colorful and comical drawings by Swiss artist Eugen Hartung (1897-1973) commonly called “Mainzer Cats” referring to publisher Alfred Mainzer of New York. (They were first published in Zurich by Swiss publisher Max Kunzli and known as “Kunzli Cats”.) The majority of Hartung’s dressed animal drawings were kitty scenes which often included other animals, like mice, dogs and birds; many of the other animals were anthropomorphized like the kitties here, but some were not, depending upon what was needed to tell the story.

This card (possibly originally a postcard) was trimmed a little on both sides and pasted to fit in the card “frame” by someone. This cut off the artist’s heart-shaped logo that, on this one, would have appeared at the bottom left. It was given to a friend so is only up for display on this website but can be found for sale on other sites.

Sources: http://mainzercats.com/

http://www.metropostcard.com/artistsh.html

http://aboutcards.blogspot.com/2012/09/mainzer-cat-postcards-and-eugen-hartung.html

Bridal Shower Card

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Annieoakley

Bridal shower card, circa 1927 from The Buzza Co. The yellow ribbon attached to the card has produced some discoloration under the ribbon on the front and inside of the card.

Price: $20.00

“Here is wishing all your showers

Will be happy ones like this.

And that when you are a Mrs.

My gift will not come a-miss.”

It’s raining flowers in this absolutely lovely bridal shower card showing a young dark-haired bride-to-be in a yellow and white gown, and holding a cute little black umbrella. This is a Buzza Company card, and there is already a lot that’s been written about this company and it’s founder, so just a few quick facts: Buzza was George E. Buzza (1883 – 1957) who started a greeting card company that became one of the largest in the United States. The first cards came out in 1910. The company was known for it’s high quality and innovation, and also produced other items like bridge score cards, etiquette and children’s books, and framed sentimental sayings. The card shown above opens almost in the center to reveal the message on the inside; the second image above was cropped so that the saying would be easier to read. The third image shown above is, of course, the back of the card, and you would hardly recognize that there is anything there unless you look very closely. At the bottom right there is a faint imprint showing “The Buzza Co. Craftacres. Mpls. U. S. A. Copyright 1924” . Craftacres is a building name: When the company, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, needed more space, Buzza had a new building constructed that was opened to it’s employees in May of 1927, and was named Craftacres.

Source: Koutsky, L. (2013, April 23) Checking out the buzz at Buzza Lofts. The Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.journalmpls.com/voices/voices/checking-out-the-buzz-at-buzza-lofts

Friendly Greetings

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Annieoakley

“The memory of our good old times will never fade away,

In proof of which I’m sending this greeting to-day.”

This is a beautiful card, on linen-type paper, showing “Friendly Greetings” at the top and the above short verse, both done in gold-tone. Whether the card is handmade or not is a good question; maybe not as the edges are also done in gold-tone, which might leave one with the impression that the card was professionally made and sold; but then again there is no publisher information, so the card could have even been created by the sender. In any case, the scene is beautifully done, and shows a small stone bridge in winter, with the top half of a house showing in the background, nestled cozily in front of some fir trees, at sunset or sunrise. The message on the back shows:

“Dear Maud, I am wondering if you, Oria, and I could have a reunion again. Would it be possible for you to come down Saturday night and stay over Sunday? We are writing to Oria to do the same. The children will all be at home and we can all have a good old fashion visit. Lovingly, Belle Please let me know by return mail if possible.”

We can tell this is an older card by the spelling of “to-day” rather than today. A great website for etymology was found and is listed below. Etymology is the study of the origin of words and how their meanings have changed over time. The term in the spotlight here started off as “to day”, changed to “to-day”, then became the present “today.” The hyphenated term was used roughly up until the early 20th century, but we still sometimes see “to day” around this time, as well.

Greeting card, possibly hand-made. Circa early 1900s.

Price: $15.00

Source: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=today

Fishing Boats, Mount Lavinia, Ceylon

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Annieoakley

Non-postal card showing black and white photo of fishing boats at Mount Lavinia, Ceylon. Mount Lavinia today is part of the city known as Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, a suburb of the capital city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ceylon became Sri Lanka in 1972. This photo looks to be the second in a series under the title “Ceylon Views” and as the description on the back indicates, it was published by The Lake House Bookshop in the city of Colombo. This bookshop is still very much in operation and their website is listed below. Card printed in England. The top of the photo shows what looks to be maybe a little water damage. Maybe from the waters of the Indian Ocean? As to the age of the card, the bookshop was originally established as a lending library in 1941, and developed into a bookshop from there. This places the date of the card approximately from 1941 up until 1972 when the country became Sri Lanka.

Non-postal tourist card, No. 2 Fishing Boats, Mount Lavinia. Publisher: The Lake House Bookshop, Colombo 10, copyright. Printed in England. Circa 1941 -1972.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehiwala-Mount_Lavinia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka

http://www.lakehousebookshop.com/

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