Turn the page: Another owners name.

The next page in the photo album my husband got me for our anniversary is a head shot and a group photo.

This is the gentleman out of the sleeve.

Piercing eyes, aren’t they!  The bottom of the card seems to be chopped off so I had to do a Google search to figure out where this photograph came from.  The name of the photographer, G H Presby led me to this site, and gave me the idea that this photograph may have been taken in Sherbrook Quebec.  Again, many of the cards in my album came from this section of Canada. Another search gave some dates.  The sixth photograph down on this site, is another photograph by this photographer at the same location.  Their research places the photographer in this studio from 1874 and 1890.

The next photograph is the family group. (Love her little neck tie!) I wonder if the photograph in the background is part of the photographers props or if it was a person of significance to the family.  A dearly departed, perhaps?

The photograph was taken in Manitou.  I have another card in this album from Manitou. The back of that card says “To Lucy” implying that if this is a family album and not an album cobbled together by a collector, then one of the owners is named Lucy.

The above family photograph from Manitou also has an inscription on the back.

One could imagine that the mother in the photograph is named Mary, her Uncle is named Will and perhaps Will is married to Lucy!

Look what I found!

My kid is moving back home.  This means that I am spending my Easter Holidays converting my sewing room to a bedroom again. (Happy Easter, by the way!) I’ve been packing things up and moving them around and finding new homes for everything.  And as is usually the case in such projects, I needed to tidy up other areas to make room!

I was tidying up the Halloween/work costume boxes and discovered something I forgot I had.  My grandmother made it somewhere around the 1970’s. 

1970’s does 1870’s?  It is rumpled from being in a box for some 40 years (only seeing the light of day a handful of times and never actually worn as a Little House on the Prairie bonnet).  But being stored means it is in pretty good shape.

If you know me, you know that I view my Grandmother as a kindred spirit.  The fact that she made this bonnet is more proof that she would totally “get” my Victorian costuming hobby if she was still here and that she’d be totally willing to play along. I have piece of kindred spirit evidence…

Anyway, back to the bonnet…. I think it is finally going to get a turn at being what it was intended for-be a costume piece.  I have some cotton fabric that is destined to become a dress this summer and I think they go together reasonably well.

Bonus? That is one less piece I have to come up with!

Bar pins: circa 1910-20

The Costume Museum of Canada has a group of bar pins dated 1910-20.  Many are similar in appearance.  Unsold items from a store?

In the above photo, all the pins are in pink.  The one in the foreground and the one in the back ground are double the length of the one in my hand and the small one on the table.

When you zoom in on the pins, you can see that they are patterned with a pink enamel or glaze over top.

Cute how my nails happen to match, eh?

There are pins that are the same in shape and sizes but in a blue color.

In behind the blue pins are slightly bigger pins. These also have a pattern with a glaze or enamel over them.I really liked the pin I am holding in the above photo.  The others are too plain for my tastes.

There is a final pin that is along the same lines as the two above but in white with a floral design.

More mitts and sweet souvenir

I was at the museum last night, sorting through some random jewelry, looking for pieces for an upcoming display.  I found some pretty sweet little numbers and I’ve taken photographs to dole out here.

Today’s piece is some sort of pendant or medal that was possibly a memento of the big event of the crowning of King Edward.  I have no idea if it was something that you “had to be there” to get or if it was something sold through out the empire for people to have and collect. 

If you take a closer look….

The medallion says “Coronation day 26th June 1902.

Cool fact: The coronation of Edward VII and his wife took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on 9 August 1902. Originally scheduled for 26 June of that year, the ceremony had been postponed at very short notice, because the King had been taken ill with an abdominal abscess that required immediate surgery.

Obviously, the medallion was made in anticipation of the scheduled coronation.

Here is the  back half.

Children’s Fete Glasgow is imprinted around the coat of arms.  I gather there was a party for children in Glasgow and some or all of them received on of these as a souvenir.  I Googled it to see if I could find mention of the party and what they did but all I could find was more examples of this medal on sale.  So not desperately rare.

As a random addition to this post, I finished another pair of wool mitts.  I think I will put these up for sale at my friends craft sale.  I was playing with the stripes and they just wont work for costumes and I don’t need another modern pair.

Progress: latest project

I’ve been working on a knitting project.  I had tons of wool (unfortunately a blend but believable to the lay person) given to me that I thought would make a good version of this.

The pattern suggests white and red.  I’m assuming that a Victorian woman would chose other colors based on taste and availability so mine is yellow and brown.

It is working up well.  Trouble is, as I’m working it up, I’m realizing that it uses way more wool than I thought it would so I may have to start making the brown stripes wider and the yellow narrower.  The pattern does make the yellow narrower, but I don’t think it is going to do this fast enough to prevent me from running out of the yellow.  But, I’m going to go with the idea that Victorian women would make this adaption if they were running out of wool too! Hopefully, the change wont look cockeyed and drive my OCD into high gear.

Late 90’s dress and a range of suits for gents

I’m using up some more old photos from my old (crap) camera phone.  The dress is late 1890’s/early 1900’s and is in the Costume Museum of Canada’s collection.

And for good measure, some men’s suits of various era’s.

Photo Montage Entitled: Sigh!

I found this in the Costume Museum last night….

A very ornate chatelaine.  I’m guessing 1890’s based on similar ones I saw on-line. The clasp appears to be a mermaid and a cherub.

The clasp has a long piece on a hinge.

The lady would slide that into the waist band of her skirt and the weight of the chatelaine would close the hinge and keep it in place.

Before we get to the pretty part, I will quickly show you the back of the whole piece.  You will see that it is kept pretty plain.

You will notice from the first photo, that the clasp portion has 4 chains coming down.  Each chain is rather pretty too.

The first chain on the clasp (scanning left to right) is the holder for the scissors.  Those are lost unfortunately.

The second and third chain from the clasp hold a center ornament.

My guess is Poseidon to go with the mermaid theme and two more cherubs.

Poseidon has four chains and the first of those holds a pin cushion that looks like a little book.  The “pages” are actually a thick piece of felt that holds the pins.

Next to the pin cushion is a case for the tape measure.  The tape itself seems to be gone.  I don’t think it got sucked inside the case.  The case has a cute little crank for winding the tape back inside.The next item  is the little reusable note pad.

I have seen those with ivory but this is thin wood, I think.

The next item and the final item hanging from Poseidon is the thimble.

The next item on the chatelaine hangs from the forth and final chain on the clasp and it is the needle holder, the lid of which still easily comes off.

The Costume Museum is going to be doing an “Accessories” display this spring and I get the fun job of finding various items of jewelry for this display.  This is my first selection.  Home Run for my first go!

Photo album: birds, babies and boys

It has been a couple of months since I last shared photos from my anniversary photo album.  Past due, I’d say!

The next page in the book is these two.

The baby, out of the page, does not offer any more clues.

It has been propped in the corner of a chair.  I can’t see any hidden parents.  There isn’t enough hair to guess if it is a boy or a girl.  There is no photographers stamp and no hand written notes.

The gent is a great photo!  Look at the stuffed bird (hawk?) that is set up next to him!  Oh, you Victorians and your dead things!

There is a great big ring on his hand and I love those “groovy” stripes on his pants!

Photographer info….

Gray, St. Mary’s

A quick internet search gave me the following quote. “According to St. Mary’s Museum, a studio operated in the town by the name of Gray Bros. from 1883 to 1889. However, there was a John N. Gray (who may have been one of the brothers) who also had a studio there from 1886 to 1900.”

You really should go to the site I found that info!  The card being featured there has the exact same font for the photographers name.  The writer of that post figured his card was from 1891 so it would have been done by John N. Gray.  It isn’t likely the two studios would have used the same font for their cards.  I think mine is earlier (1880’s) though because that seems to be the time frame of the other cards in my album.  I don’t have any other proof though.  My knowledge of men’s clothes is nearly non-existent.

Are you the reason for my headache

I woke up with a headache this morning.  I am wondering if it is a bit of a sugar hangover.  I had company last night and made a dessert that was good and yummy but a bit high in the sugar department!

The top layer is chocolate (with sugar) and cream with peanuts

The middle layer is cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar

The bottom layer is chocolate crumbs (with sugar) and butter.

It was really yummy and I can’t just throw it away but I think this headache is telling me SMALLER PIECES WITH WATER, MA’AM!

Random items from the Costume Museum of Canada

In the interest of using up old photos, I am again doing a mass posting of photos I have been hoarding on my old computer.

Some button hooks.

An old iron.

An old Eaton’s ringer for laundry.

Hope you enjoy….