Per Playle’s guide for dating stamp boxes on Real Photo Postcards, this NOKO design ranged from about 1907 – 1929; a broad range to be sure! My feeling is it might have been taken in the 1910s or early ’20s. But in any case, it shows a beautiful woman with an absolutely radiant smile (you can enlarge the photo twice for best view.) From afar one might get the impression that she’s in her late 30s or early 40s, but I think this is more of an effect of where the sun highlights her hair, making it appear gray on top, thus aging her appearance a little. With a closer look she appears to be maybe in her 20s. Anyway, our subject sits cross-legged, holding a parasol, and smiling at the person taking the photo. She wears a dress with white sailor collar with dark bow; white cuffs and wide decorative white band near the hemline. The dress material is possibly seersucker; a up-close view shows pale stripes; and pinned to the collar is a round locket or watch. The location, like the woman’s name, is unknown; she sits just inside a length of grass and wildflowers (why call them weeds?) and the photo appears to have been taken in a courtyard of some type. Is that a set of apartments showing in the back with pillars supporting a trellis canopy? Did she live there or work there? We may never know but aren’t we lucky to be graced with such beauty around us, in the past, present and yes, future? To quote Janis Joplin on the subject of time,  “It’s all the same fucking day, man!”  and Mother Teresa on the power of the smile,  “Peace begins with a smile.”

Divided back, unused Real Photo Postcard. NOKO stamp box. Circa 1910s – early 1920s.

Price:  $6.00

Sources:  “Ball & Chain” (W.M. Thornton) Recorded live by the Full Tilt Boogie Band on July 4, 1970 at the Canadian Festival Express in Calgary, Alberta.

Quotes About Smile. Goodreads. Web accessed March 8, 2015. [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/smile]