Monday, August 17, 2009

Standard Series

Sometimes you meet crabby old men at the flea market who have outlandish prices on things ... why, you might ask them "because it's old" ... yes, I can clearly see it's old by the stains and holes in it - but... come onnn.

But, sometimes people are pleasant and even though they know they have gems - things are priced to move. I met a really great guy at the fleas yesterday. He had a beautiful dress form he knew he could have asked more for, but wanted a measly $45 ... I should have bought it on principle because the price was so whacky - but instead I bought a really beautiful series of old photographs from him.

So, we'll start of with my favorites! A beautiful bunch of faded daisies...

The Standard Series

. . .

The text on the bottom of this didn't come out too well in pictures but it says 'Atlantic City Seashore Bell (e) s (w) Ringing Wet

The Standard Series

. . .

This one cracks me up - The Sorrows of July Fifth

The Standard Series

. . .

This is exactly where I'd like to be RIGHT now!

The Standard Series

. . .

This one also has a witty title "Your trouble will be, Little Ones"

The Standard Series

(loooving those stripey socks too!)

. . .

This one I'm not so sure about - I'm holding the picture right up to my nose and all I can make out is a couple of Gibson Girl hair do's, you can make up your own scenario!

The Standard Series

. . .

Someone got crazy here with a pencil - but this one is aptly titled, The Note That Never Came.

The Standard Series

. . .

And here we start on the more scandalous of the bunch, a dopey eyed gal enjoying "A Quiet Smoke"

The Standard Series

. . .

The Standard Series

. . .

The Standard Series

. . .

And lastly, The Temptation of St. Anthony.

The Standard Series

. . .


... I also added a set of 6 hand-colored ones to my etsy shop, if anyone might be interested!

26 comments:

KellyJean said...

Those are 3D Stereoscope images! If you have a Stereoscope, or if you can find one, your new pictures will be even more fun! I like the "A Quiet Smoke." Her face cracks me up!

the snail and the cyclops said...

Kelly Jean: Thank you SO much for telling me what those are! I was googlin' everything I could think of and with no luck! I can't wait to read all about them! And I'm officially on the hunt for a stereoscope!!!

Isabel said...

$45 for a dress form? That's insane!!!

Evangeline said...

I love those! They're very very cool. I love seeing old faded pictures, its like a little window into life from another time.

xoxo

Blair said...

Ooh, stereoscope pics! Those will be really fun to have. :D

<3

Emily Blackapple said...

Lovely!

My grandmama's stereoscope was my faaaavorite thing to play with when I was little and had time to kill at her house. And she had no cards quite as good as "A Quiet Smoke" or "The Tragedy of July 5th".

;)

Sandra said...

Wonderful pictures! I love every one of them! Thanks for sharing!

Amy P. said...

Aw lovely pictures. I love the range of perspectives they cover, so cute!

reckless daughter said...

I never seen anything like these - they're great!

Andreja (duckrabbit) said...

i just bought an old stereoscope for the early 1900s this summer and it's so much fun to use! i highly recommend getting one and seeing these cards in 3-d.

Anonymous said...

Those are amazing! I love finding treasures like that.

Lemon said...

these are remarkable! love photos that beg you to imagine stories.

Matthew said...

Yes, a stereopticon is exactly what you need. I find the quality of the 3-D image varies tremendously, but when you get a good one, it pops.

k said...

those are great old photos. once i haggled with an old man at an antique fair over some old photographs - two men boxing in their underwear on the rooftop of a building in san francisco. i think he saw how amused i was by the photo and refused to come down in price -- his pricing was outrageous and i just walked away out of frustration. now i regret not just paying the full price for those photos.

Unknown said...

You're my hero! I would find things like this and then talk myself out of buying them.

Anonymous said...

So jealous right now. Any idea when these date from? I saw a stereoscope in an old Toy Museum in London, but I guess that's not much help.

Tracy said...

how cool! i used to spend hours looking through my grandma's viewfinder - her slides were all panoramas of trees and mountains and stuff. these are adorable!

Unknown said...

lovely post x

Carlito86 said...

I ♥ old photos, I wish I could have got some of those x

kelly. said...

I love your blog, i check everyday to see if you've updated! Your such a lovley person and your style is incredible. Good luck with moving to California, i bet you so excited. I definatley would!

Lauren Winter said...

I can't get over your beautiful blog. that's it, I'm adding you to my favorites link list, if that's alright!

Mirash said...

Last Sunday I was in a flea market and all the shop-keepers changed the original prize. I had to be really careful, because in some shops they offered me incredible bargains, but in others they asked an illogically high prize for invaluable things because they seemed to be really old (and they weren't). However, I found a cute tin box that cost me only 10€. Then my father told me it was from 30's or 40's. Now I'm so proud of my little treasure.

Anonymous said...

awesome

heleen said...

Wow, I never stumble upon such treasures at our local flea market! Lucky you.

Jessica said...

Oh my good golly...what gems!!! These are all really the most beautiful old photos I've seen in a while! I especially love the one at the beach near the water! So nice! (ps: 3D!! Cool man!!!)

xx

Rhia said...

Wow! Stereoscopic pictures! Here in Finland you get to see those very rarely. I managed to get couple stereoscopic pictures several years ago, but I don't have stereoscope. You can see them in stereo (3D) even without stereoscope if you take piece of paper or thin notebook and place it exactly between these two pictures. Then look the picture from about 30 cm distance. It might take awhile to get used to it, but you should be able to see these two pictures forming 3D-picture. The trick is that both of your eyes are not looking at the same picture, but the left eye sees only left picture and right eye sees only right picture.

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