Holiday Wishes From The Holtorfs

Holiday Wishes From The Holtorfs c1

Here’s a personalized holiday greeting card, with two deckled edge sides, the printed message,  “With the best of Holiday Wishes”  and a small design of probably a poinsettia. It’s signed,  “The Holtorfs”  and shows an older couple with their two grown sons, (note the strong family resemblance) posing in front of their home.  If you look closely at the street address on what appears to be a Corinthian style porch column, you’ll see the street number 77 with a mark just to the left. So, it looks like the address might have been 177 or 477, or even 777, but searching the U.S. City Directories under these numbers and the family last name, did not bring up any possible records (without doing an extremely extensive search.) Though we see a basement window, it’s still possible that this is a California home (the card was found in that state) as there were some Californian homes built with basements, even though most were not, due to the ground not freezing; builders therefor not needing to dig below the frost line. I’m guessing that this style might be a Craftsman; we don’t see the whole house so that makes it a little more difficult to determine. As far as the clothing worn by the four individuals in this photo, I think the most striking style detail we see is the double-breasted suit of the man on our right. The other two men are possibly in the same style, though it’s harder to tell. I would estimate this photo to have been taken in the 1930s.

Personalized holiday greeting card with black and white photo and two deckled edge sides. Circa 1930s.  Full size of card:  About 5 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2.”

Price:  $5.00