Sailor Suits: Unidentified Boy


Figure 1.--We thought this might be a German boy, although the scarfe is not tied in the normal German fashion. Also the palm frond obviously suggests that the photograph was not taken in Germany. We are guessing a British boy would be more likely to be in overseas locations with palm trees. He wears a button-on sailor suit, probably about 1930. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

We thought this might be a German boy, although the scarfe is not tied in the normal German fashion. Also the palm frond obviously suggests that the photograph was not taken in Germany. We are guessing a British boy would be more likely to be in overseas locations with palm trees. He wears a button-on sailor suit, probably about 1930.

Nationality

We thought this might be a German boy. He looks more German than British to us. The scarfe is not, however, tied in the normal German fashion. Also the palm frond obviously suggests that the photograph was not taken in Germany. We are guessing a British boy would be more likely to be in overseas locations with palm trees. Germany lost its colonies after World war I (1914-18).

Boy

The boy here is unidentified. He looks to us to be abouy 6-7 years old. The elegant saolor suit and fancy toy suggest to us that he came from an affluent family.

Location

I think the palm tree rules out Germany. It stronly suggests a British colonial posswssion. A reader writes, "Considering the palm tree could it be that this image was taken in southern Africa, or perhaps (if the model turns out to be of a British design) Australia or another far flung colony?" India may be another possibility and Malta as well. I think it is most likely, but I think because of the jet stream that there are a few places in Britain that palm trees can grow if carefully tended. A reader writes, "About the palms, I can guess it could be somwehere close to Germany. As you know, there are palms in Italy and Switzerland like Lugano I visited and which is of similar view. It could be also on the Italian Riviera which, I suppose, was a vacation land for Germans during the "Steel pact" between Mussolini and Hitler. [HBC note: I don't have much information on this, but because of the massive NAZI defense spending, the Germans were chronicall short of hard currency. There were exchange controls and I think citizens were discouraged from traveling abroad. I think over the well to do or businessmen were able to travel abroad.] Anyway, it gives a good idea of the adult-centered fashion in Germany during the 1930s."

Chronology

The photograph is undated. We would guess it was taken in the 1930s. The sailor suit and the model ship as explained below both suggest the 1930s to us.

Sailor Suit

The boy wears a button-on sailor suit with a saucer cap and patent leather strap shoes. This would probably have a dress up suit. He probably had more than one.

Model Ship

We are not sure what this boy thought about his sailor suit. We are rather sure that he really liked his model ship and probably after the photograph was taken, was anxious to find a pond where he could launch it. A reader writes, " I'm looking over the model destroyer that the boy is holding in the image on this page and note that it is very similar to the 1934 type German Z class of destroyers though it could possibly be a British designed destroyer. This would date the model and indeed the image to the 1930's or later. It doesn't appear to be a model of a World War I ship. I've not seen a tin toy this large or realistic looking and would say (being a model ship builder myself) that the model appears to be home-made or scratch built, possibly by the boys' father or another close relative. The model has two funnels or smoke stacks, they are surrounded or built on top of two deck houses and the model has single mounted main deck guns, which by the layout of both the deckhouse and the guns, as well as what might possibly be the ships torpedo launchers just to the stern (rear) of the second funnel, make me think it is a member of the Z class.






HBC





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Created: 4:38 PM 1/19/2006
Last updated: 4:38 PM 1/19/2006