The Lost Postcard (1889)

ZEKE tells me:  He hates being lost! Most of the time he is not lost, but hiding.  He likes to hide.  He hates lost things.  A lot of his toy balls are lost.  Well, not really lost--He knows where they are, but he just cannot get to them.  He has a microchip in case he gets lost, but he is afraid of going outside. It is scary out there. Read about the lost family on the postcard below. There are blogs devoted to posting photographs of unknown people in unknown places. 

Zeke

(A while back I accidentally posted part of this while I was composing it.  If you use a feed reader, you would have seen it.  Here it is completed, and with more material added.)

The Lost Postcard

Many years ago at a large book-fair in Illinois, I purchased a book. which I later found had this postcard stuck between the pages.  It has been there well over 40 years now in my possession.  I decided to post it.  It was a popular practice for people and celebrities to put a photograph on a postcard, so they could give them out or mail them to friends.  This card was never used, but ended up a bookmark.
     There are several interesting things about this photograph.  The book, on the top shelf of the desk on the left of the picture with a distinctive design on the outside cover, was one I purchased (!), but not the one with the photograph inside!  It is "The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe" printed sometime in the 1880's with no copyright. The book with the postcard was "True Stories from History" by de Normande.  The book was a special collectors edition with a special cover design only printed in 1890.  There was a "period" bookplate inside the front cover declaring the book's owner to be J. E. Patten. This is not necessarily relevant. Maybe the photo does not go with the book!
     Using a higher resolution photograph scan than shown here, I focused on the calendar on the wall on the left.  It reads Monday, March 4, but no year is showing.  Using a "perpetual" calendar, the two most likely years with the fourth falling on Monday were 1889 and 1895.  If the year were 1889, perhaps the photo was put into the newer 1890 edition a year after it was snapped.  This is a possibility. 
      From a better resolution photo, I can see the male is reading a letter with a photograph enclosed.  Additionally, the female on the left side of the card is wearing a wedding ring.  There are some very worn books on the desktop.  Those are my thoughts on the postcard.  I would be surprised to ever see another one!
     I almost forgot to mention the small figure below the calendar sitting on the small dresser(?).  My best guess is that it is  Darth Vader from Star Wars, holding a set of modern automobile keys!  Doctor Who or Mr. Spock would have some thoughts about this incongruity! Then again, maybe I am mistaken?  It may be a sculpture of Native Americans. Any more thoughts are welcome. I wonder who they were?

Celebrity Postcard Example:  Queen Alexandrina

Queen Alexandrina (Alexandra) 1844 - 1925)

From my collection comes this photograph of Queen Alexandrina of Denmark or Alexandra, who became the queen in England due to marriage.  I had this posted a while back, and took it away, but here she is again!  This photograph is a postcard which is a rather common collectible. It was the fashion to have celebrity postcards made of well known persons. There are a number of these about, which I have seen, and this one probably dates from 1870 - 1880.  When Alexandra was a child, she had an operation on her neck which left a scar; and because of that, she always wore high tight collars or choker necklaces to cover it. Like Lady Diana Spencer, she was a fashion icon of the time, and the high-necked collars on blouses worn by women in the late 19th century and early 20th century are directly attributable to her.