Sepia Saturday 90 - traditional dress

I've been working away most of this week so am a little late in all my regular blog postings. Here's my submission for this week's Sepia Saturday. This vintage postcard is, I assume, of some sort of traditional dancers or other music ensemble. There's no information on the picture at all but it looks as though it might be Eastern European. If anyone has any other suggestions I'd be very glad to hear them.

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Sepia vintage postcards - anonymous people

My contribution to this week's Sepia Saturday post features a handful of sepia vintage postcards I have picked up over the years of anonymous people. I wish I knew more information about these cards but even looking up the photographer and studio name on the first one has yielded multiple possibilities. I thought the one published in the "reality series" would be easier to track down information, but alas a google search seemed to return just reality TV shows. Others like the rural/farm scene I've guessed as to what it is ... if anyone thinks it's not hop-picking please let me know. If I had to guess at a county I'd say Kent as I remember travelling there as a child to see relatives and there were lots of oast houses.

This week it's actually quite hard to pick a favourite as they all have different appeal. At a push I'd probably say that the rural scene one is my favourite as I've not come across any like this before, but I'm also quite taken by the lady on the bike and also the moustaches on the final postcard, whose size seems to be relative to the age of the person wearing it.

Man posing next to a stone pillar, photographed by P.Brierley, Empire Studio (possibly in Oldham?)

Rural scene of a family picking hops (I think)

Vignette style postcard of a lady on a bike

A family portrait, published in A&G Taylor's "Reality Series"

As always, 100's of vintage postcards can be found on my vintage postcards web site

Carte de Visite (CDV)

Ok, so these are not quite vintage postcards, but I thought I'd share some interesting vintage Carte de Visite (CDV) that I came across recently.

Initially I thought these were Cabinet Cards, but after subsequent investigation I found these to be different. Although both comprising of photographs mounted on card, it would seem that CDV's are typically 2 1/2 x 4 inches, whereas cabinet cards are 4 x 6 inches.

What's fascinating about these is the sheer number of photographers that seem to have existed around the late 19th century, often on the same road presumably competing for business.

I've added some others a Flickr CDV set.

Vintage postcards of actresses ... and ordinary people

Whilst nowhere near as prolific as topographical postcards, vintage postcards of people crop up from time to time in my travels. Edwardian actors and actresses would seem to be the most common, and of course royalty.

It's fairly obvious to see why these cards were printed and bought, but something which intrigues me however is the vast number of vintage postcards of what I'll call "ordinary" people, either as individuals or family units.

At first I thought these were just photographs, but they are actual postcards. I've come across everything from a smartly dressed lady on a bicycle, to a serious looking family, dressed in their Sunday Best on their front lawn.

Unfortunately none of those I have are written, so there's no additional detail which may explain the cards further, but the pictures themselves do offer a fascinating glimpse into our social history.