Young men at water’s edge
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What it is:
Real photo post card measuring 5.5 x 3.5 inches.
What I know about it:
The paper manufacturer’s markings (“Cyko” with hollow letters and the “Place Postage Stamp Here” words) can be used to narrow the date range, though online references differ in the exact dates, ranging from 1906-1915 to 1904-1920s. Either way, that seems about right based on the image.
Comments:
As a companion piece to yesterday’s post showing women and children at water’s edge, here are some men cheerily testing their balance while another lurks behind them in the relative safety of the shore. This is another one of the ones my friend Elise gave me last week, but I think the similarity in the subject matter is just a coincidence, since they don’t seem to otherwise be related. It’s interesting to examine all the bits of jewelry they have pinned to their lapels and ties, and wonder what, if any, significance it all has.
Pics of Then 
Fantastic scans! I can zoom in to the detail with hardly any loss of quality. I love the “lurker” in the background. This is a quality image! Does your friend collect herself? She has a great eye!
Thanks! I still have to figure out some things with my new scanner, but I’ve recently been scanning for this blog using the highest dpi setting, and I’ve been pretty happy with it. No, I don’t think Elise collects, but she has good taste. 🙂
I think the jewelry on their buttonhole-side lapels are their watch chains (with fobs). Funny, I never saw a picture of anyone hooking their watches (or other jewelry) there before, until this: https://picsofthen.com/2016/01/18/two-suave-men-posing-with-a-pedestal/
which also seems to have been taken in the same era–the big trouser cuffs made me think of it.
Oh! I just noticed the decorative (maybe not intentionally) stitching on the righthand guy’s turned-up cuffs. I thought that was a newish thing!
I saw that stitching, but it didn’t occur to me that it might be intentionally decorative. At first glance, I assumed their cuffs were turned up to avoid them getting wet, but now I see they are hanging at a rather normal length. I love both pairs of shoes, by the way.
I feel like I’ve posted other photos of the chains looped through the lapels, but I’m too lazy right now to look. The guy on the left seems to have a sort of fleur-de-lis style pin on his tie, and the other guy might have a matching one, though I can’t tell with the angle. And I can’t tell if they have some sort of odd jewelry in their buttonholes, or if those are rather wilted flowers.
Love this picture!!
Thank you!