Old photograph found in Top Hat

[LordBest]

I found this inside the sweatband of my top hat, I have had the darn thing quite a while now and I never thought to check. Anyone care to hazard a guess as to the date?

The seller of the top hat dated it to c1900.

 

[Paisley]

For action photography, you have to shoot no slower than 1/250 sec. I don't think they had that fast a shutter speed in 1900. Perhaps the 20s or 30s?

 

[Eyemo]

Google the photographers name...

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Well....-possible- years for this include..using http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/index.html?year=1939&country=8


1923, 1928, 1934, 1945


My -personal- vote is for 45.....because I -really- think the print in the left corner of the picture is Cyrillic alphabet, although when i try to enlarge it, it gets blurry so i can't -read- what it says....


1951 would be the next year in which June 3rd fell on a Sunday....looks way too early for that time frame...although its a -folk peoples- calendar so who knows...

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Google the photographers name...

actually...this works if you add photographer.

Very very likely candidate....


http://www.amazon.com/Pictures-Rhine-Erich-Bauer/dp/B0012DPFZY

 

[H.Johnson]

For action photography, you have to shoot no slower than 1/250 sec. I don't think they had that fast a shutter speed in 1900. Perhaps the 20s or 30s?

That's why they used to pose shots as if they were action shots...

 

[feltfan]

Remember that the picture could have been slipped under
the sweatband any time in the history of the hat. So if you
date it to 1945, that doesn't mean the hat dates from that year.

What I find fascinating is that someone thought to put a
picture of working farmers in traditional work clothes inside
his top hat. Staying true to his roots? Champagne communist?
Interesting.

 

[Paisley]

That's why they used to pose shots as if they were action shots...

It doesn't look like a posed shot to me. The boy has a load on his pitchfork and the girl's scarf and skirt are in motion, not hanging limp.

***

Is anything written on the back of the photo?

 

[Fletch]

The "Cyrillic" word isn't. I read it as Heuernte, which my German/English dictionary translates as "hay harvest."

One thing about German ephemera: you can't always tell how old it is thru typography. They led the world in modern type design. Futura, used in the calendar boxes, was designed by Paul Renner of Munich in 1928, and has never been out of use since.

 

[H.Johnson]

I think that dates it to post 1928, which is consistent with the dress. Action or posed, my 1932 Rolleiflex would take a photograph very like that with ease. The 1925 Leica had a 1/500 shutter!

I'd go for 1928 or 1934 based on the above Loungers' information.

 

[dhermann1]

This should go in the same display case as the 1940 movie tickets in my Stetson homburg.
My inclination is towards the 1934 date. Using overstretched logic, I wonder if the theme reflects the nazi ear romanticization of folk culture. Also, the owner may have had the picture in there because of the calendar, rather than the picture. The picture reminds me a lot of some of the Samuel Chamberlain pics of New England of the 30's and 40's. But you could also compare it with depression era photographers like Margaret Bourke White.
Very cool, regardless.
Edit: Google produced nothing, except it made me wonder if this is necessarily German. Could it either be Danish or Norwegian?
I also wonder about the provenance of the hat itself. How did it get from Europe to Australia? If it was bought in a vintage shop, of course, it will likely remain a mysery.

 

[Paisley]

I don't speak German, but isn't "tag" their word for "day"? Maybe someone should PM Naama (who is Austrian) or Lillemor (Danish).

 

[Miss Neecerie]

yes...its a calender with the days of the week

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_the_week

scroll down to see the languages and days...german is most of the way down

Sonntag being sunday...which is how i looked up years....June 3rd as a sunday

 

[Luke 42]

I don't speak German, but isn't "tag" their word for "day"? Maybe someone should PM Naama (who is Austrian) or Lillemor (Danish).

"Tag" indeed means "day" in German. Also "Heuernte" is printed in the left corner, which means " hay harvest", as someone above my post stated correctly.

Edit: I did a search for the photgrapher in german: It seems to be that Erich Bauer was born in Karlsruhe in 1908. I am pretty sure that this is the photographer mentioned..seems to be rather famous. But as he was being born in 1908, that picture is most likely not from before 1925 or so..

 

[Big Man]

"Tag" indeed means "day" in German. Also "Heuernte" is printed in the left corner, which means " hay harvest", as someone above my post stated correctly.

Edit: I did a search for the photgrapher in german: It seems to be that Erich Bauer was born in Karlsruhe in 1908. I am pretty sure that this is the photographer mentioned..seems to be rather famous. But as he was being born in 1908, that picture is most likely not from before 1925 or so..

The picture may have been taken in the 30's or 40's (or whenever), but judging by the look of the paper my guess the page itself was printed as late as the 1970's (the dates coincide for 1973 and 1979). But, who knows ... [huh]

 

[dhermann1]

70's

That's not impossible. Good point about the paper. Would a calendar from the 30's have been printed with the title at the lower left and "photo: Eric Bauer" in the lower right corner? That seems a more recent innovation.
Calling Vintage Betty!!!

 

[LordBest]

The hat certainly predates the photo significantly. There was actually a considerable cork lining with this picture between the hat and the cork, it seems someone with a smaller head than the hat was intended for adapted it for his use at some point.
There is nothing written on the back. I bought the hat from a German seller on eBay, no real mystery how it reached Australia there.

 

[feltfan]

"photo: Eric Bauer" in the lower right corner? That seems a more recent innovation.

Now there is a clue. In German it would be "foto", would it not?
So I'd say it dates to at least post WWII, when the American
influence was stronger in West Germany.

 

[Luke 42]

Now there is a clue. In German it would be "foto", would it not?
So I'd say it dates to at least post WWII, when the American
influence was stronger in West Germany.

No, sorry thats not a clue Before around 2000 or so, the german spelling for photo was photo! It changed to "foto" at that time due to some spelling reforms. So "photo" is just the old spelling in german.

 

[feltfan]

No, sorry thats not a clue Before around 2000 or so, the german spelling for photo was photo! It changed to "foto" at that time due to some spelling reforms. So "photo" is just the old spelling in german.

Ha! Good catch. I am certainly no expert there.