Borders and Frames

A cabinet card photo featuring a decorative mask that forms a tennis-themed border, with two crossed tennis rackets and three tennis balls at the bottom, netting along the bottom and sides, and leaves and vines at the top. This appears to be the same mask (although flipped horizontally) used in Photo_History's Woman with Tennis Racket Decorative Mask - Cabinet Card .

A photo with decorative border or frame for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "Reporting for diaper duty, sir!" With an elaborate border consisting of an eagle, flag, canons, bombs bursting in air, and other patriotic and military symbols, it's surprising that this real photo postcard features an image of a child rather than a soldier.

A real photo postcard printed with a decorative mask. The scrollwork and flowers in the design of the mask make it look like an elaborate picture frame.

A woman standing among the shrubbery is surrounded by the stylized scrolls and flowers of the decorative mask used to print this real photo postcard.

Mama cow and baby calf seem to be giving the photographer a sideways glance as the farmer and his family hold them in place to pose for the camera. See a cropped version for a close-up of the disgruntled bovines. The decorative mask--with its stylized flowers and curled-up edges--gives the appearance of a fancy photo frame. For a similar real photo postcard, see Man's Portrait in Elaborate Border .

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

Printed on the back of the card: "Genzel's Kinobild-Postkarte [Genzel's Movie Picture Postcards]." A unique " walking photo " postcard made to look like three frames from a strip of motion picture film.

A frames and borders photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A Polaroid photo of two kids in a life-sized picture frame, date and location unknown.

"Keystone Photo Studio. L. H. Wolfe, Lebanon, Pa." Mounted on cardboard with a printed decorative border.

"Friendship Photos." Mounted on cardboard with a printed decorative border.

Mounted on cardboard with a printed decorative border.

Photographer's name embossed on photo: "S. W. Kuhnert, Harrisburg Pa."

"With the season's greetings."

"Wishing You a Happy New Year, J. P. Baker, Trav. Ag't, Harrisburg, Pa. Buckeye. 1895. 1896. Buckeye. J. H. Trezise, 1125-27 N. Third St., H'b'g." This is a unique photographic New Year greeting that depicts Father Time--carrying an old-fashioned scythe and designated as "1895"--worriedly running away from an overdressed gent who's uttering the word "Buckeye" as he tips his hat and rides atop a newfangled "1896" mechanical reaping machine pulled by a bevy of Cupid-like putti . The inset to the right of this imaginative scene is a photo of "J. P. Baker," who's identified as a traveling agent (salesman) from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Dressed in a hat, cravat, vest, and suit coat, Baker appears to be the model for the gussied-up guy riding the reaper. Although I haven't uncovered any specific information regarding J. P. Baker, I suspect that he may have worked for Aultman, Miller & Co., manufacturer of Buckeye Harvesting Machinery, which had an office at 625 Walnut Street in Harrisburg, according to Boyd's Directory of Harrisburg and Steelton for 1895. The company sold a variety of agricultural equipment for mowing, reaping, threshing, and other tasks (to see a fascinating early silent film clip of a Buckeye machine in operation in Australia, take a look at Wheat Harvesting with Reaper and Binder -1899 ). J. P. Baker evidently used this photograph to wish a happy New Year to his friends and business associates and to promote himself and his Buckeye machines to customers.

A tattered & torn (or otherwise damaged) photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten caption: "Remember that day." Handwritten note on the back: "Isn't this sweet. Give me one in the place of this." An undated and well-worn photo taken at Jefferson Rock , which overlooks the town of Harpers Ferry , West Virginia. According to Wikipedia, "The name of this landmark derives from Thomas Jefferson, who stood there on October 25, 1783. He found the view from the rock impressive and wrote in Notes on the State of Virginia that 'this scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic.'" Note that the silhouette of someone's head and shoulders is visible in the background between two of the pillars that hold the top slab of the rock in place. Here's a 2009 view of the rock taken from a similar vantage point:

One of the dealers at a local antique mall sells a variety of old photos, and I usually find a few interesting images each time I visit. I noticed that the dealer occasionally adds pithy comments--ranging from clever and witty to sarcastic and dark--to the back of some of the photos, and I began watching for these "precaptioned" pics when I looked through the piles of hundreds of unsorted snapshots at his stand. I can't resist the captions that turn out to be interesting or amusing (and sometimes quirky or strange), and I often end up buying the photos, even if they're bent, torn, or taped. I don't know anything about the dealer who conjures up these captions, but perhaps he, too, appreciates a good Far Side or Charles Addams cartoon.

For more information, see the cropped version of this photo: