Mini-photo, circa 1900 – 1920s

Price:  $10.00            Size:  About 1 and 3/16 x 1 and 5/8″

A mini-photo of a beautiful dark-haired girl in winter-ish coat and spring hat. The writing on the back, in pencil, had been almost completely covered with black photo album paper (you know the type) but we discovered that applying water softens the paper so that it can be peeled and scraped off. Oh, and then Googled the “how to” question and saw that yep, it works on the old photos with writing underneath (in pencil, the source wasn’t sure about ink) because, after all, the photo would have been dipped in water before being hung to dry. (It would have eased my mind to have read this first, but still!) Anyway, she’s very photogenic, with that arresting look. And, oh what a hat! Straw and fabric or just fabric maybe, but the shape, along with the subtle pleats on the underside, reminds one of a flower. As to the writing:  What we can make out says,  “Jenevieve….” with something underneath that we can’t make out, and next, our best guess “Bank Inspector.” (Well, inspector misspelled. Plenty of entries were found under this given name cross-referenced with occupation.) And at the bottom right corner, maybe  ” H. C. MO.” Hmmm, one of the counties in Missouri that begins with “H” or maybe an abbreviated company name? And if she was not a bank inspector, well, we hope she’s laughing somewhere at this, but it does sound very dramatic, doesn’t it? Jenevieve, Bank Inspector!