Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Chateauroux, France



What I love about the old French postcards is that they often include scenes of daily life, people going about their daily business. I feel as though I'm looking through a window to the past. Chateauroux is located in the Centre region of France, south of Orléans, along the Indre River. The town is named after the local castle built toward the end of the 10th Century and currently has a population of about 49,000.

6 comments:

  1. Are you familiar with guidelines to date vintage European cards?

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  2. Both the guy on the bike and the people in the cart appear to be looking at the car. Perhaps if both motorized and horse-drawn vehicles are on the street, cars were still novelties.

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  3. I haven't spent much time looking at the guidelines for dating the French postcards I have. I think most of them fall within a range of 1910-1920. The French changed over to divided backs in 1907. I also know that the font style of Carte Postale and the color of the paper can provide a more precise date. Let me know if you have a good source for guidelines.

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  4. P.S. There is something odd about the car; no one is in it! So, was it parked and left there? Does it belong to the photographer, some high-falootin guy from out of town?

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  5. What I love about pictures and postcards of European towns and cities is that many times, you can take one in your hand to the same corner or street and everything in the background pretty much looks the same.

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  6. Maybe they're looking at some idiot photographer who left his car in the middle of the road and climbed up something to take a picture.

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