Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving Fowl Ups






 

These are some of my most amusing and creative Thanksgiving postcards. Each card depicts some kind of "fowl up". They are published by The Pink of Perfection and are from Series No 430. There is an artist signature consisting of an uppercase "N" with one or two dots.



Saturday, November 23, 2013

Elvis Stamp Ballot




In 1992 postcard ballots were distributed for the American public to vote on two different designs for a 29¢ stamp honoring Elvis Presley. The choice was between two portraits, a "young Elvis" (A) and an "old Elvis" (B).

The "young Elvis" artwork (airbrush and acrylic on board) was by artist Mark Stutzman.


source: Art of the Stamp

The "old Elvis" artwork (oil on board) was by artist John Berkey.

source: Art of the Stamp
The "young Elvis" received the most votes and was used for the Elvis stamp. In 1993, the Elvis stamp was issued both as a single and as part of the American Music Series Issues featuring legendary Rock & Roll performers Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, and Dinah Washington. The single stamp had Elvis' first name only (as shown on the ballot). The stamp that was issued along with the other performers used both first and last names.

source


This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog


Thursday, November 21, 2013

John F. Kennedy Assassination & Grave


President Kennedy's Assassination Site
Dallas, Texas
Friday November 22, 1963, the entire world was stunned when President John F. Kennedy was struck by two bullets from the sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository Building, allegedly by Lee Harvey Oswald. Mrs. Kennedy, who was riding with her husband, was not shot. Governor John B. Connally of Texas, riding in the jump seat in front of the President, was severely wounded.


Grave of John F. Kennedy
35th President of the United States
Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.

Located near the Custis Lee Mansion overlooking Washington, D.C. is the grave site. Here burns the eternal flame, which was lighted during the burial service. Two of the Kennedy Children are also buried here.



Above are two postcards, along with copies of the descriptions on the back of the cards. The two Kennedy children mentioned were Patrick Bouvier Kennedy who died two days after his premature birth in August 1963 and "Arabella" who was stillborn in 1956. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was buried at the site alongside her husband following her death in May 1994.

The video below shows the visit by the Obamas and Clintons to the grave site on November 20, 2013 to place a wreath of white flowers.






For More Vintage Images

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2013/11/sepia-saturday-204-23-november-2013.html



Friday, November 15, 2013

Good Cheer for a Joyous Thanksgiving




I was born on Thanksgiving, so Thanksgiving postcards are a natural topic for me to collect. I have a large collection of Thanksgiving children on postcards that I started about 30 years ago. Not only did it become hard to find ones that I didn't already have, but I also am much older now. A couple of years ago I started collecting Thanksgiving postcards featuring adults, especially women. That collection is small and probably will remain so.

These are two of my favorite Thanksgiving postcards with women. They are Printed in Saxony and are numbered 0690 on the back. Both cards have handwriting on the back: "Albany Ore / Nov 29 1911." One is addressed to Granma and the other to Granpa.



Saturday, November 9, 2013

Sailing Ship Stamps



This is a Russian postcard picturing ship stamps by www.markstempel.ru. The English title is "Under Sails."  The majority of the stamps are from the Soviet Union. I also see ones from Poland, Cuba, and Kampuchea.



This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog


Thursday, November 7, 2013

Sand Artist At Work



This postcard shows a "Sand Artist at Work" in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The artist and date are unnamed, but it was not difficult to find more information about this artist and his sculpture. I discovered that both were well known. The date is less certain.

The artist's name was James Taylor. He is named and shown with a similar statue in the below article from The Strand Magazine, Volume 33, 1907. This certainly suggests a date of 1907. Thanks to Google, I discovered that this article is actually a copy of the beginning of a longer article that appeared in The Strand Magazine, Volume 18, 1899. Furthermore, sand sculptures like this were less ephemeral than the article implies.


The following is an excerpt from the 1899 article:
The variety of subjects which have sprung from the worker's fertile brain is astonishing. Hardly a thing happens in the world such as the blowing up of the Maine or the death of a noted man but what some reproduction of it may be made with sand. The photographs in this article show how varied Mr Taylor's talents are and how quick he is to seize upon the subject of momentary note for the interest of his countless onlookers. His last subject recently done expressly for this Magazine as shown by the illustration below touches we think the highest he has yet reached in sand art. The beautiful figure on the sand with its flowing drapery is really amazing in the naturalness of its lines. When we consider the haste with which it must have keen made and the material of which it is composed it is certainly a cause of admiration.
The sculpture mentioned in the 1899 article was a recumbent woman in a somewhat different pose without the child. Although Taylor made many different sculptures, including contemporary subjects, the reclining woman with child must have been a favorite. An essay, Selling Sand & Sea, mentions that a sculpture of the reclining woman and child was reported in a January 1900 article and appeared on a 1900 postcard by the Detroit Photographic Company.  An article, Castles in the Sand, in the Ocean Beach (California) Bulletin describes Taylor and his tour of California in 1908 and 1909 when he made a similar sculpture on Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California.:
“Cast Up By the Waves,” sometimes called “Cast Up By the Sea,” was a recurring piece for Taylor, who was born in 1860 and plied his trade as sand artist in the first decade of the 20th century. He did versions of “Cast Up” and similar creations in Long Beach, Asbury Park, N.J, and Atlantic City. Though the friezes of famous people rotated, they usually included Civil War generals. . . His signature reclined woman (often depicted clutching a child to her breast) usually acted as a centerpiece to his projects. The woman alone, her dress full of detailed folds and fabric-mimicking undulations, took Taylor about two hours to create. Taylor’s only tools were his hands – and a stick to finish off delicate details.


For More Vintage Images

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2013/11/sepia-saturday-202-9-november-2013.html

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