Figure 1.--I think these children are both boys but cannot be sure, they look to be the same age, but one boy has not yet been breached. He wears a plaid tunic with a pen-on lace collar. One is wearing a dress and one a sailor suit. They look to be about 2-3 years old. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

This postcard photo is unidentified. but we know it is from Germany. The image is undated and as it is a postacard rather than a cabinent card, the location of where the photo was taken is not indicated. The postcard format, however suggests the early 1900s, probably sometime agter 1905 and before World War I (1914-18). I think they are both boys but cannot be sure, they look to be the same age, but one boy has not yet been breached. He wears a plaid tunic with a pen-on lace collar. One is wearing a dress and one a sailor suit. They look to be about 2-3 years old. We initially thought that these boys might be friends or cousins rather than brothers because of the difference in their clothes. Note, however, that they have identical wool stockings. This suggests very strongly that they are brothers. One boy has a girl doll with ringlers. The other holds a toy. We wonder how these two boys looked on each other's toy. The especially interesting aspect of this image is that it is the older boy that not only wears the tunic (slirted garment), but that also has the doll.

Created: January 24, 2003
Last updated: January 24, 2003