Tag Archives: bowler

Beautiful Victorian teen sisters and their cute brother in a bowler

1/6th plate tintype. Private Collection

1880s teens. 1/6th plate tintype. Private Collection

This is one I acquired recently and there’s everything to love here; how the boy’s frock coat with the short bowler contrasts with the young girls’ elaborate Victorian fashion with the pleats and patterns. The details are amazing too, like the lace collar of the girl in the back and the feathered derby of the one in the front (I want it). The young ladies are all wearing their neatly brushed hair down.

Also, the two front girls are sitting high on the bench; they must be wearing bustle dresses.

These four most likely were brother and sisters who were close in age, or maybe fraternal twins with siblings, or perhaps siblings with cousins. One thing’s for certain, they were all very photogenic and made a gorgeous group portrait.

Some pictures make me want to stare for ages. This is one of those. I have it framed by my computer.

Here’s a CDV of the same era with another teen boy wearing a similar short bowler I find very stylish.

Creative Commons License
Digital restoration work titled Beautiful Victorian Teen Sisters And Their Cute Brother In A Bowler by Caroline C. Ryan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.


The rugged old father and his two sons

I got these two tintypes from the same place. I didn’t notice when I got them, but the boy on the second one looks like he could be the same one as on the first.

What do you think? He has the same short nose, downward curled lips and dark eyes. The chin is different but it could be the way he’s posing. He also likes his bowlers.

The same boy?

The same boy ?

I like the way they’re posing with their hands on their father’s shoulders. He had them late in life it seems, or -less likely- he was their grandfather. Isn’t he a character too with his rugged looks and bushy beard? Right out of a Gold Rush story.

These tintypes give me this feeling this was taken in a rural area, a smaller town somewhere in the plains or mountains of the American west or northwest. They are dressed well, but decidedly adapted to the country life.
On the second tintype the boy is dressed up without a collar or tie (leave those uncomfortable accoutrements to the city boys!), and his shoes are dusty. There is something on them, some kind of flap, perhaps to protect from backsplash while riding a horse or wagon.

On the first tintype, the younger brother looks like he’s wearing some type of low hanging striped apron over the trousers. Maybe this served the same purpose.

Also, while the two backdrops are different they look like they were painted by the same artist.


The Short Tails gang

The Short Tails gang by Jacob Riis. 1887

The Short Tails gang by Jacob Riis. 1887

The only known photo of the Short Tails gang that roamed the Lower East side of Manhattan in the 1880s-1890s. This picture was taken under a pier by the East River at Corlears Hook (a notoriously bad spot known for their brothels).

The Short Tails were drinkers, brawlers, and generally the worst kind of bad boys honest New Yorkers had the bad luck of running into. They were known to push loaded wagons into the river and turning around to ask the owner for a reward if they saved the contents.

They were also known to pirate boats. Then of course they’d spend all their ill-gotten dough at the local saloons like the upstanding citizens they were. They numbered around at least 50 or more, often partying in large groups on the streets late at night. Because of their ‘achievements’, their precinct had to employ twice as many cops.

They’re thought to have disbanded in the 1900s, members joining either the Five Points gang led by John Kelly west of the Bowery, or the Monk Eastman one east of it.

Here they’re seen drinking. Notice the mountain of discarded large tins (growlers) they used to carry beer.


By the tree with graffitis

By a tree with graffitis. Cabinet card. Private Collection.

By a tree with graffitis. Cabinet card. Private Collection.

A beautiful portrait of a fetching gentleman holding his bowler while posing by what looks like a tree trunk with graffitis on it. Interesting the photographer collected the tree trunk and thought it would be a fine prop for his studio, either that or it’s papier mache?

Photographer: L.W. Felt. Chicago.


Bowler wearing men from the back

1890s-1900s Tintype.

1890s-1900s Tintype.

The same two men from the front after the cut.
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