Mary Dolly Allen Collins - Old Cabinet Photo

Someone wrote a fair amount of information about the woman in this picture.  I've edited the picture a bit for this post, but you can see the whole thing on our eBay store.  Just go to the store & do a search on Mary Dolly Allen.

This is an early cabinet photo, possibly as early as the 1850s, certainly no later than the 1860s.  Its always possible we could be mistaken about the date, but we're getting a lot of experience with these things, and that's what we believe.  It is not in great shape.  There is a lot of foxing - little spots you can especially see on the front, and someone has trimmed this up greatly, and unevenly.

On the front, written in pencil, is "Mary Dolly Allen, married Collins. "

On back, also in pencil is the following information: "Think this is great-grandmother Archambeault's mother when young.  Mary Dolly Allen, married a Collins, lived in VT.  Came to Utica on a farm.  Great-grandmother was Harriet Jane Collins."

I don't know when this information was written down, and there is always the possibility that it is wrong. It is a lot more information than we usually get on these pictures. We did a tiny bit of research and we believe Mary Dolly Allen Collins died in January 1886, but we didnt really take it much further. 

But this is the way she looked 150-160 years ago, when she was younger and stronger and her death was still in the distance. 

I wonder how many decades it has been since anyone said her name aloud or thought about her.  I'm sure she'd be extremely surprised to know that I somehow ended up with her picture.

A Little US Automotive History

This picture is an interesting little snapshot of people on (and in) an old car.  The people's clothing look very 1920's to me.

And it's not just any old car - this is an early Pontiac.  The writing on back says "Pontiac, Chief of the Sixes, Oakland Tampa Co., Tampa, Fla.

Pontiac orginated as the Oakland Car Company in Pontiac, Michigan in 1907, and was bought by General Motors in 1909.  Oakland introduced the Pontiac model in 1926, and as it was powered by a six cylinder engine, they dubbed it "Chief of the Sixes".   The car was popular, and the Oakland name was phased out in favor of Pontiac.

Click on the title to go to the listing, if you're interested.

Yet another loose end.

It must be something in the postal waters.  As quickly as one is cleared up, another one takes it place.  A couple of posts ago I wrote about a postcard which was returned to me - the post office could not deliver it to the address given.  After multiple attempts to contact the buyer, with no response, we opened a case to cancel the transaction.  The buyer agreed.  Which meant that they logged on and responded to our case, but would not respond to our request to verify their address.  So we cancelled the transaction, refunded their money, put them on our blocked buyer list, relisted the item. 

So, what should happen a couple of days after this?  Another card return ANK - "attempted not known", this one from a buyer in North Dakota.  Same thing going on, he's not responding to our attempts to contact him. The address we mailed to is a confirmed address in PayPal.  This is a bit stranger though, he went ahead left positive feed back and good DSRs.  I know he exists, but other than that  I don't know what's going on.

In both cases the envelope did not appear to be opened, but the packaging did - the tape was torn, very neatly & I'm positive I didn't put it in that way.  But why go to the trouble to expertly open and reseal an envelope, then leave torn tape on the inside?  Am I freaking out? 

And we still have the buyer who bought and paid for a card then told us not to deliver it until he contacted us again.  That was over 2 weeks ago I think.  Haven't heard from him.

This is just plain odd.  I don't like it.

A Cabinet Photo of a Woman From Perry NY

This is a cabinet photo of a youngish woman who was probably from Perry NY, or a farm nearby. The photographer's name was Crocker, and based on graphics etc, we believe this dates to the 1880s-1890s.


The subject of this photo looks very human.  I think that is why I like it.

Click on the title to go to the listing, if you're interested.

Loose Ends

I dont like loose ends, and there are a couple I'm dealing with at the moment. 

The first is a buyer who bought and paid for a couple of postcards.  I got them in the mail that very day, but then a few days later it ended up right back in my mail box.  The post office returned them with a yellow sticker on the envelope saying they could not forward them to another address.

Weird.  So I've attempted to contact her to verify her address, and I've received no reply.  I can understand a person being hesitant to give out their address to someone, but I'm doing it all thru eBay (so I have an "official" eBay record of it), and I don't really know any better way to do it.  This has been going on since June 24th.  So I sent her another message today and told her I'd refund her money in a couple of days if I don't hear from her.  

My only other choice is to mail the card again, on the assumption the PO screwed up.   A couple of times the machines have read the return address & and an envelope has ended up back in my mailbox, but that wasn't the case this time.

The other loose end - recently someone bought a snapshot, paid for it, then told me not to send it for a week or so "until he knows where he's going to be".   Ok, he's moving or something, I can understand that.  But I really want to mail these things out.

The worst that could happen?  2 negatives, and low DSR ratings, potentially costing some money.  That probably won't happen.  We'll see. 

People are such untidy creatures.  Almost nothing is straight forward when you're dealing with people.

Early 20th Century German Postcard

This is an early 20th Century German postcard we have for sale - it is actually part of a lot of 2, combined with another similar (but not quite the same) postcard.

Actually I can't date this exactly, but it has the looks of an early 20th century card.  It also has the look of a hand tinted card.  There is a sheen around the edges that makes me think of a gelatin-silver photograph, but I don't know for sure.

It's a pretty card, with a little rhyme in German and I remember enough German to understand what it means.  It does not rhyme in English.

Click on the title to go to the listing if you're interested.

Hearts & Heads Early 20th Century Postcard

This is kind of a strange early 20th century postcard - not really sure how to list it, or what to call it, but I'm sure it must be appealing to someone out there.  It is embossed and gilded, and a little strange with a heart shaped back ground and people with heart shaped heads singing in what appears to be snow, but maybe not.  I mean who whould think of such a thing.

Anyway,  click on the title to go to the listing if you're interested.