Thursday, January 14, 2010

A Crabby Coincidence - San Francisco, California



Two different cards, but I'm betting that the two pictures were taken within a minute or two of each other. Check out the man in the hat; I think it's the same man in both pictures.  I also think the two ladies in the first card have their backs turned to us in the second card. Yes, I know the man's hat is a different color and so are theirs (and their coats too), but that's the beauty of hand-tinted cards; you can make them any color you want. That's why you often see brightly-colored awnings and cars on linen cards from the 1930s and 40s. My guess is that most of those cars were black. Notice that the awnings in these cards are also colored differently; the one on top has some unconvincing stripes.

Here are the backs of the two cards. They are both from the Scenic View Card Co. in San Francisco, but the second one seems to have been printed by Tichnor Bros.


The message on the card, sent in 1946, reads:
Dear Betty and Dick
This is where we just had dinner  it was swell. Wish you were with us. Going home tomorrow Aug 15th - love and best wishes Bev.
Beverly had a time of her life. XX

11 comments:

  1. don't you just LOVE finding things like this! there's some more info about Tichnor Bros here - http://www.metropostcard.com/publisherst.html

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  2. Is that James Dean under the first awning in the first post card? LOL They must be the same. Look at the crab legs sticking out of the stack on the left hand side.
    ~Randy

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  3. Debs, thanks for the link.
    Randy, hey...it does look like James Dean and I think he's in both pictures.

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  4. What a fabulous blog. So pleased to have discovered you. Bookmarked for future visits :)

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  5. How odd! I liked comparing the two pictures. It is strange that these were taken, it seems, within minutes of eachother--and then for you to find them and notice...amazing!

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  6. Staged I tell ya! It's gotta be staged! No, but you've got me curious about some I have taken at the Wharf of the same subject matter. What if the same people show up in mine?

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  7. If the same people show up in your pictures, then it definitely means that aliens have invaded our planet. If the same crabs show up in your photos, we are in deep trouble indeed.

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  8. I'd love to see more like these! Very interesting.

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  9. That is really very interesting about the hand tinting. And what wonderful cards. I may have already said this, but I do enjoy your blog very much.

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  10. How interesting! The guy with the glasses is probably CIA or a pickpocket. He probably appeard in 42 other cards made that day :-)

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