Saturday, January 2, 2016

Mystery vintage photo of figure on snowy steps


We haven't had even a hint of winter yet in southcentral Pennsylvania. So we'll have to settle for vintage photographs of snow. This sepia-toned shot measures four inches wide and features snow-covered outdoor steps, a figure who appears to be using a shovel and bushes and branches weighed down with wet snow.

To me, it looks like it's a photograph of a photograph. In the lower right, down the steps, there is cursive writing that must have appeared on the original photo. It states:

Merry
Xmas
Lairdis [or Laindis, or Lairdia, or Laindia, or Lairdie or Laindie]


There's a date in the extreme lower right. But I cannot decipher it with any certainty. The second number is either an 8 or 9. The third number might be a 1 or 4 or 8.

1880s? 1910s? 1940s? [1940s was my first gut instinct, but the more I looked at it, the less I was sure.]

There's nothing written on the back of the photograph, so we have no further clues to go by.

What do you think?


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1 comment:

  1. Is it possible the writing was scratched into the negative and prints made from that? This could have been sent to multiple people as a Christmas card. Maybe as a joke. The date looks like 1949 to me.

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