Monday, March 08, 2010

Frozen in Time


Always one of my favourite antique finds, are the old photo albums from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, full of original cabinet card photos and the smaller calling cards or carte de visite.

To catch a glimpse of a by-gone century, when women were strapped into corsets and rarely seemed to have a smile on their face, I find quite captivating.
This latest collection of photographs to come my way are full of interesting looking woman in their full-length buttoned up garments of the day.

I shall be adding them to my shops stock this week, but also saving a few to take with me to next months 'Vintage Textile and Costume Day at Dairy House', as I am hoping they will be of interest to the antique costume enthusiasts who may be visiting.

They are always an affordable collectable, and can also look attractive when added to hand crafted items.
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The graphics on their reverse are often very decorative too. Once again, it seems, they don't make em' like that any more...How many photographs, I wonder, will survive to tell our stories in the future, when so much is kept in the archives of our computers?

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Have a happy week!
Niki x
I have been asked many times over the last couple of weeks if I would be able to offer my rag dolls for sale again via my on-line shop. I have a busy week ahead, but will do my best to list the two girls that I have in stock at the moment. I'll let you know when they are available for purchase.

13 comments:

  1. WHAT A FAB POST!!!

    Pictures or paintings of people have always intrested me, mainly for humour as I love to imagine a funny story behind it.

    It is so true about how archives will be so poor in the future for this era. Discs, hard drives and the likes are not going to last like the tombs of the Ancient Egyptians. We may be living in the 21st Century but at this rate, we'll be known to have lived in the modern Dark Ages!!!

    Love C. X

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  2. Love the grumpy one at the bottom! Liz xx

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  3. A lovely collection of vintage photos.One in particular looks very like Queen Victoria!
    We have inherited some lovely old photos from my husbands side of the family,but sadly we don't know who the people are,and as his parents are both sadly deceased we'll probably never know.I always feel a bit sad when I see old photo albums at car boots...and wonder what became of those people in the pictures.

    Bellaboo :o)

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  4. What a wonderful collection, you were very lucky to come by these!
    Sue

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  5. I love to look at old photos and wonder what the story is behind them. I would think that photographs in 1800s were taken mostly on special occasions.
    The two last photos look as though they could be the same woman years apart. xx

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  6. This is a lovely collection and so wonderful that you have rescued it. But like bellaboo I always feel sad when I see them at car boots and wonder why families have discarded them. I remember the joy we felt when we found an old family photo and saw that our pretty young daughter was the absolute image of her young and beautiful great grandmother among a family group of quite terrifying elders. I often feel the same when I see people on various TV shows selling up very personal family heirlooms. It's sad when the older people say no-one in the family is interested in keeping them and let them go to auction for the price of a modest restaurant meal. (BTW the word verification for this post is 'scrum' - how appropriate.)

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  7. I love old photos too! I do hate the thought that the family doesn't have them! I probably wouldn't smile in those uncomfortable clothes either! haha!
    Blessings,
    Lorilee

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  8. I have sold a few of these albums in my years as an antique dealer and I can just never understand how people can get rid of photos of their own families. I think they are absolute treasures!! Mind you they do look beautiful incorporated into craft work.
    alicia

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  9. What a complete coincidence Niki, I bought a batch of these wonderful cabinet etc photos this weekend, I love them, as you say, so evocotive of the period, costume etc. xx PS, my favourites are the men with enormous bushy beards!

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  10. Guenievre1:41 pm

    Fabuleux !!!
    J'adore ces albums photos anciens !
    We found two in flea market. One is decorated with floral drawings is beautiful but it has no photos :-(( The second one is full of photos from end of 19th and beginning of 20th centuries.
    Gardez les votres précieusement, c'est un beau témoignage du passé.

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  11. I have a collection of lovely old photos from rummage sales.

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  12. Great pictures Niki. I love the wedding one I bought from you a few weeks ago...I must blog about it soon. Hope the shop is still going great guns, hopefully I'll get over there again soon.

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  13. They are great,so lovely...

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Thank you for finding the time to visit me...
Niki xx