“I’ve wished it many times before, Hope I can wish it many more. – Merry Christmas”

Beautiful vintage Christmas card sent by The Ingalls family, showing colorful depiction of a couple waiting at the coach stop with their Christmas packages. Perhaps this will remind you of a scene from the English countryside in the 1800’s. Even though it may seem funny to research a drawing like this, in order to pin-point the time-period of this fictional scene, (it has become rather an obsession here at Laurel Cottage) it is (besides being amusing) worthwhile to pick out the drawing’s details:  the gentleman wears a caped great coat and top hat; the lady wears a bonnet and carries a muff. Is the gentleman holding an oil lantern or a kerosene lantern? Was this a Regency or Victorian Era scene, or later? Good grief, these questions lead to others such as:  what really is the time frame for the Regency Era (strictly-speaking 1811-1820 but a little bit broader time-frame in general, for the Regency influence); when was the kerosene lantern invented (evidently not a simple question, there were lots of patents out there); when were top hats popular; what is the history of coaching; what is that architectural style (“half-timbered,” but that was probably not a true half-timbered house, as the timber ornamentation was a popular add-on in the 1800’s for decoration.)

Size:  About 4 x 5″

Price:  $20.00

Sources and further reading:  http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/carriage/history.html#coach

http://www.regencyhistory.net/2012/09/when-is-regency-era.html

http://www.1708gallery.org/inlight/docs/History_of_Lanterns.pdf

http://architecture.about.com/od/construction/g/halftimbered.htm