“Don’t worry if
you work hard
and your rewards are
few… REMEMBER
the mighty OAK was
once a NUT like you.”
😀
Divided back, unused postcard. Publisher:Â Daco. “A Daco Card.” Box 6194, Waco, Texas 76706. Series D-132. Circa 1960s.
Price:Â $6.00
Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. AZO stamp box circa 1907 – 1918.
Price:Â $6.00
A young woman posing in winter or late fall attire:Â She wears a long checkered skirt that shows her side-buttoned boots just a little. The coat is of a large ribbed material and the hemline comes down past the knee, but it is longer in the back than the front. The front tapers up in the center, as in what we might think of as a reverse-v. Three large just-for-style buttons line up from the center of the hemline to a correspondingly angled change in the way the fabric lies; it’s ribbed vertically until the lower band of fabric that runs horizontally. The coat has wide lapels and perhaps either a velvet collar at the back or one of short-haired fur. She holds a very large dark fur muff. A white lacy blouse with loose-fitting stand-up collar shows above the lapels. Now the hat:Â There must be a name for this style, but I’m not seeing a listing for it. It’s cloth, sort of a cross between a beret and mob cap; a wide band at the forehead instead of a ruffle. Tam o’ Shanter is perhaps another possible description, except we can’t see the top of the hat, so we don’t know if it has a pom-pom.
Behind the young woman is a photographer prop: a beautiful wicker chair or short bench. But describing the woman’s the expression and stance:Â maybe she was just upset about something on this particular day, maybe impatient (the lean) but for me she has a look of having had more than one disappointment to deal with in life, having not yet quite gotten beyond them.
Divided back, Canadian, used postcard. Publisher:Â J. Howard, A. Chapman, Victoria, B.C. Number or series 1180. Incoming postmark dated December 22, 1908. Sent from Alberta, Canada.
Availability Status:Â SOLD
These Mr. and Mrs. O. F. Henning postcards have a real knack for finding me! I keep discovering that I have more of these. I believe they may have all been in the same postcard dealer’s collection, but in that collection there are thousands of cards. After the cards are bought, the seller organizes them all into state or country categories, or themes, like holiday or teddy bears, or what have you, so for that reason the cards from the same family tend to get separated (akkkk!)Â So, it’s remarkable that I seem to keep picking out the ones that happen to be addressed to this couple. This one of Lake Louise will be the sixth in our “Dr. Oswald Henning Collection.” And the reason I chose it is because I have a fondness for Lake Louise, though I’ve never been there; and also because you don’t see as many older Lake Louise cards.
Anyway, this is addressed to Mrs. O.F. Henning (Helen Muirhead) at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and shows a woman in a rowboat out on the lake. The sender wrote, “Christmas Greetings” and signed it, “E.J.M.” It looks like the type that would have been produced from a photograph, as it seems these normally don’t come out with an extreme amount of clarity, but it’s still lovely.
A Wikipedia entry describes Laggan as the former name of the hamlet of Lake Louise. Lake Louise was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848 – 1939.) She was the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and the wife of John Campbell, who was the 9th Duke of Argyll, and who served as Governor General of Canada from 1878 – 1883. If you didn’t already know, you probably correctly guessed, that the province of Alberta was also named after Princess Louise. Laggan, built in 1890, was a station along the Canadian Pacific Railway route.
The card is postmarked from Alberta in December 1908, the outgoing date being difficult to read. But the incoming date to Fort Sheridan, Illinois reads December 22.
Last but not least, we happen to have a beautiful trade card showing a drawing (or some type of print) of Princess Louise. This was the first posting here at Laurel Cottage Genealogy and definitely one of my favorites. It’s just gorgeous.
Sources:Â Lake Louise, Alberta. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Louise,_Alberta. (accessed December 10, 2014).
Alberta. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta. (accessed December 10, 2014).
Christmas card of heavier cardboard, and rounded edges. Missing right bottom corner. Artist and date unknown. Circa 1890s – 1910. Size: About 6 x 4 and 1/2.”
Price:Â $6.00
“May Christmas Joys be Scattered round Thy head.”
Here’s an unlikely looking Christmas card, and it continues the topic of a few posts ago – non-traditional cards. No snow, no trimmed tree, no manger scene or Santa Claus, but instead some beautiful daisies, along with a summery card, and a tennis racquet in the middle of it all. This is for when you’re hoping for summer to return, to get back to the courts. Christmas joys scattered round thy head – like tennis balls you loft before the serve or the shots coming at you? I like the “card within a card” idea. It’s very nicely done, with the shadow included. You just naturally want to open that card up all the way, to see what it might say inside. There’s an old piece of gauze-type tape running along the top back edge, which you can see a little of here, along with some glue marks on the back. This might have been inserted in one of those old photo albums with the sort-of built in paper frames on each page, then taped to the back. But anyway, this was a must-have since it is so unusual.
“With best wishes for your happiness during Christmas and thru the New Year.”
Signed “Mr. & Mrs. Chas. Jarchow.”
Well, here is an absolutely heavenly card! It was done in colors of gold, black, red and white on off-white. It’s design shows a 19th-century family consisting of a man, woman and little boy, outdoors singing Christmas carols. The moon is huge in the background, the snow falls through the golden night sky. The three have walked down the stone pathway from the charming Tudor cottage-style home on the left. Love the rounded door, the shutters, the tree showing bare branches behind the archway, even the little bush on the right, or rather I think that is meant to depict a tree top showing from the other side of the hill. Notice the detail of the door hinges, the stonework around the door; not to mention the clothing of the singers, the sweet expression on the woman’s face, the boy’s expression and fluttering long winter scarf, the way the gentleman is interestingly turned facing sideways so that we see his profile, while the other two face the front; his coat and top hat, the woman’s hooped skirt and fur-trimmed jacket and matching bonnet….Perhaps the artist drew the man facing to the side since his coat flares so much; it might not have worked so well to have his outline be similar to, or detract from the woman’s.
Very noticeable about this artwork are the patterns: the checkered pattern of the woman’s skirt, the swirl in the presumably wooden area under the roof peak, the contrast of the larger snowflakes with the smaller dotted fabric of the woman’s jacket, the stripes in the man’s coat. (One could gush on almost forever.) But we do have a very similarly styled Christmas card, that was put up here at Laurel Cottage early on. Check out the similarities to the card in this post entitled “May Your Christmas Be Merry.” It’s very possible that the two are by the same artist. (We’ll be on the lookout for more.)
As far as the time frame for this card, it’s hard to say – maybe 1900 through the 1930s. We do know that it was made in the United States, since it gives us that information at the bottom right of the scene. And the last name in the signature is definitely Jarchow; nothing shows up under alternate spellings. But a surprising amount of married couples show up in census records, at various times, in various states, for Charles Jarchow and spouse, so that won’t help to narrow down the date.
One last note as far as trying to date the card: One might think that the use of “thru” instead of “through” might be useful, as in when did we start using “thru?” However, the use of the shorter word has been around for over a century, according to numerous dictionary and word origin type references. Interesting, though (or tho!)
Christmas card, unknown artist and date. Circa 1900 – 1930s? Size: About 5 and 1/2 x 4 and 1/4″ Condition is very good except for the crease at the top.
Price:Â $30.00
Source:Â ‘ “Thru” vs. “through.” ‘ Stackexchange. Web accessed December 9, 2014. [http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/91778/thru-vs-through]
As promised in the last post, here is a run-down of what’s up, (ha, well I guess that’s both a “what’s on this website so far” and a “whazzup?” 😉 ) for postcard publisher E. Nash, “about whom not much is known” and an unknown publisher who is identified by the “A” or double “A” in a circle logo. This unknown publisher used a very beautiful and distinctive postcard back header with a spiral design around the “C.” From looking at the postcards below, it appears that Nash may have bought the rights to the spiral header design from the double A in circle guy, approximately sometime between December 11, 1912 and September 3, 1913. As we come across more pertaining to these two publishers, we will update this post accordingly. (Click on the image to enlarge, then once again for a slightly more enlarged view.)
Update:Â The identity of the “unknown publisher” above was found. See the April 3, 2016 post re Sanford Salke and the American Art Production Co.
“Lemons And Pink Poppies.” Postmarked November 15, 1910. Pre – Nash we presume. Publisher unknown. Note the “A” or double “A” in the circle logo, at the bottom left on the back.
“Basket Of Forget-Me-Nots.” Dated by the sender August 15, 1912. The logo on the front, bottom left, is attributed to E. Nash. Note the Old English style postcard header.
“May The Golden Sunrise.” Postmarked December 11, 1912. Publisher E. Nash per the logo on the front left, and with the same Old English style header on the back.
“May You Be As Happy.” Postmarked September 3, 1913. Publisher E. Nash. The front logo is still the same but note the major change in the back header that shows “Copyright E. Nash” on the outside of the spiral. It would appear from the change that sometime between December 11, 1912 and September 3, 1913, that Nash obtained the rights to the spiral design postcard header.
“Sincere Wishes From Sophia Hubbard.” Dated by the sender October 7, 1913. Publisher unknown. Pre – Nash logo of “A” or “A”s in circle, bottom left of back. This date obviously is after the above postcard’s date. The sender must have purchased the card prior to the publisher change for the spiral design, and sent it afterwards.
“Here’s A Handshake.” Postmarked October 22, 1913. Publisher E. Nash logo on the front left and Nash’s name and copyright outside the spiral design in the back header.
“Art Nouveau Violets.” Postmarked March 20, 1915. Publisher E. Nash per the logo on front left, but the beautiful spiral design header has been replaced by the simple (but elegant) “POST CARD” header on the back. It looks like the new design gave the sender more writing room.
Example of E. Nash logo, taken from “Art Nouveau Violets” showing the copyright and the “N” in triangle. (The L-11 was just the number or series from that particular card.)
Regarding the unknown publisher with the “A” or double “A” in the circle, check out the subtle differences between the first logo and a presumably later dated one. (The 57 1/1 in the second one being just the series or number of that card.) The first image is from the Lemons and Poppies postcard postmarked November 15, 1910; and the second is from the Sincere Wishes postcard dated by the sender, October 7, 1913.
Additionally…..a beautiful Nash Valentine’s postcard sent to us from reader, Keith Schumacher…..(thanks, Keith!). This card was addressed to Miss Lizzie Albright, Courtenay, North Dakota, and was postmarked February 14th, in what appears to have been year 1913.
This one is part of what I’m starting to think of as the E. Nash and pre – E. Nash publisher mystery. E. Nash was a postcard publisher about whom not much is known. Oh boy, one of those type. 😉 So, the next posting after this will be an organization of what we have so far for Nash and the possible prior publisher. They both used the same beautiful spiral design in the back header, but Nash used a capital “N” in a triangle for his logo and the prior person used a capital or two capital “A”s in a circle. The publisher logo on this card shows a subtle variation in the circle.
Anyway, this beauty shows a nice winter scene at sunset or sunrise, of a guy in a skiff (easy to miss unless you click on the image to enlarge. You can click again to enlarge one more time.) He is using the skiff’s pole to navigate the little stream, and in the background on the right is (presumably!) his house and on the left, across the stream (very handy) the church he attends (again presumably 😉 ). This is another addressed to Lena Davis of Almeria, Kansas and is from Lena’s cousin, Sophia Hubbard. Sophia writes:
“Pomona Kans. Oct. 7 – 1913. Dear Cousin Lena. Papa is out west. Has been gone a week to-day and we haven’t heard a line. We are worried almost to death. The baby has the grippe. It has rained twice since he left. I came home last Mon. night. wk. ago. Was glad to get yours & Lillies cards they were all I got. We got a letter from Aunt Katie. They have moved. Wish you a very Happy Birthday. Sophia Hubbard.  Will write you a letter just as soon as I know any thing for sure.”
Yikes! We hope everything turned out fine for Sophia and her family. There are more postcards that we’ll be adding later on to the Lena Davis Collection, so we’ll sort out the different family relations at that time.
Divided back, embossed postcard. Unused with writing. Dated October 7, 1913. Publisher unknown. Possible E. Nash connection. Nash may have obtained the rights to the postcard back header from this unknown publisher.
Price:Â $5.00
      Christmas Greetings
“To-day across the winding miles
This card is flying fast.
To wish you matchless Christmas joys,
And a new year unsurpassed!”
I’m becoming fascinated with seasonal cards that don’t have any of the traditional images. Do we send many out today like that? This one is a great example:Â a Christmas card just showing an adorable barn swallow (I think) bringing Christmas greetings with the above lovely verse. The bird is flying fast to bring you the message on time, so that makes sense, but the card is not traditionally decorated with trimmed trees, Santa Claus, holly, the manger scene, etc. Come to think of it, I guess we do send out similar ones nowadays, as I have a set of Christmas cards of a bunny in winter scene. But some of the other old ones are quite unusual. Click here for the example I’m thinking of.
Getting back to the subject of barn swallows, an interesting (and very relevant to Laurel Cottage) fact from the website All About Birds, relates that, “…it was the millinery (hat-making) trade’s impact on Barn Swallows that prompted naturalist George Bird Grinnell’s 1886 Forest & Stream editorial decrying the waste of bird life. His essay led to the founding of the first Audubon Society.”Â
Christmas card with sender’s signature, and thin gold-tone border. Circa 1900 – 1930. Size: 4 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″
Price:Â $5.00
Source: “Barn Swallow.” The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds. Web accessed December 6, 2014. [http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/barn_swallow/lifehistory]
Reward of Merit, embossed card from unknown artist or publisher. Circa late 1890s. Size: About 4 and 1/16 x 6 and 1/16″.
Price:Â $15.00
Here’s a nice one for the season, though it doesn’t look like this in California at the moment, at least not where we are! It’s a Reward of Merit, embossed and showing a beautiful winter scene of three children, or perhaps one adult and two children. They are standing in front of a large home, or maybe it was a school, which appears inside a rustic wooden fence, and has a line of trees to its right. It must be a daytime scene since the sky shows blue, the scene is well enough lit; therefor that is the sun we are seeing rather than the moon, but a wintery-looking sun. Not sure what the taller person is holding but what comes to mind is a bird’s nest, as he seems to be carrying it carefully. The card is bordered by mossy, snowy branches, maybe birch, with two adorable birdies at the top right, and a row of icicles at the top – a nice touch. The artist has blurred the border a little in order to focus our attention on the scene itself. And you can’t see it in the scanned image here, but if you turn the card at an angle, you can see a sparkly snow effect.
The town of Derinda, Jo Daviess County, Illinois is less than six miles west of the town of Pleasant Valley, as the crow flies. Though there is no location named on the back of the card, it’s a pretty sure bet that the following student and teacher combo is correct. (Other searches were done online without finding any other possibilities) So, as indicated on the back, this Reward of Merit was given to Katie Stearns by her teacher Clara Dittmar. The 1900 Federal Census records show that Katie lived in Pleasant Valley, and Clara in Derinda.
Katie (spelled Kattie) Stearns, age 11, was born November 1888 in Illinois. Her parents are Robert and Betsey Nash. Robert born July 1861 in Iowa, his occupation day laborer; and Betsey, born January 1867 in Iowa. Katie’s younger siblings are Martin, age 9; Lillian, age 7; William S., age 5; and Susan, age 9 months.
Clara Dittmar, age 24, was born September 1875, in Illinois. She is single, living with her widowed father and siblings, and her occupation is public school teacher. Her father is Albert Dittmar, age 53, born April 1847, in Germany, occupation farmer. Clara’s siblings are Julia B., age 26; Lottie A., age 18; Emma E., age 16; William A., age 14; and Lydia M., age 10. Living with the family is Lillian E. Kringle, age 24, also a public school teacher. According to an Ancestry.com family tree, Clara’s mother was Anna Maria Praeger.
Sources:Â Year: 1900; Census Place: Derinda, Jo Daviess, Illinois; Roll: 310; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0031; FHL microfilm: 1240310 (Ancestry.com)
Year: 1900; Census Place: Pleasant Valley, Jo Daviess, Illinois; Roll: 310; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0038; FHL microfilm: 1240310 (Ancestry.com)
“Iowa, Marriages, 1809-1992,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XV93-6LH : accessed 6 December 2014), Robert Sterns and Elizabeth Nash, 19 Dec 1887; citing Clayton, Iowa, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,255,483.
Here’s a Real Photo Postcard showing an oval studio portrait of a handsome guy, maybe in his thirties or early forties, in a dark suit coat and vest, and light colored shirt. This was not fancy attire. We see that the edge of one of the collars is slightly turning up, by accident, and the shirt itself looks to be of a heavier cotton, or even possibly a linen, but that’s an uneducated guess. (Not for the first time, nor will it be the last, I find myself wishing that I were a historical clothing expert!) The gentleman does not wear a tie. We get the impression that he could have been a working man, dressed up in his Sunday best for a photo, or perhaps a college professor. In any case he has a nice demeanor and is very distinguished looking.
Too bad there is no identifying information on this one, as we would love to know his name, or at least where the photo was taken. Besides trying to pin down the date of the postcard from the beard and clothing, a time-consuming endeavor if there ever was one, we have the Artura stamp box to go by. But according to Playle’s, (the excellent website we visit often for stamp box estimates) this Artura style was used between the broad range of about 1908 – 1924. I’d guess it is on the earlier end of these dates though; just a feeling.
Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Artura stamp box 1908 – 1924. Estimated date circa 1908 – 1915.
Price:Â $8.00