Who is this man?

A family group taken on the beach at Biarritz in April 1914. Who is the man? His face seems familiar to me. Any ideas?

Click on the image to see a better view.

Something a little different

In order to clear our stock a little we’ve started to sell lots of 50 postcards at a time. The cards aren’t extra special but could be a good idea for a beginner. Up until yesterday I was making up lots of town, villages and views throughout France. They’ve been selling pretty well so our attention then turned to the Fantasy cards that we have. These are more greetings postcards, especially New Year. A lot of them are pretty young ladies so are also interesting from the fashion point of view too. I scan all of the postcards and try to arrange them as artistically as possible. I was really pleased with the set you can see above, flowers, which is why I put it here.

Rob was checking other lots of fantasy cards on eBay France and one seller had a picture up of 5 cards only which they were using to illustrate 3 different lots. They had put up a notice warning that the postcards in the photo were not necessarily in the lot in question. When we saw that we felt quite smug about ours.

Armistice

"United against the Barbers" and "Sainted Alliance". These two cards were sent during the first world war. I’m guessing, but I think that the soldiers are supposed to represent the US, Belgium and the UK. The young lady, ‘Marianne’ represents the French republic.

Recently I read on the backs of two postcards sent during the first World War…

March 1915
Cher Papa,
….. Everything is starting to grow here which reminds me, you mustn’t try to do everything yourself. Try to wait for my return. All of this will be finishing soon and I’ll be home to help…


…Cousin X came to visit me in my trench, it was good to see him. Between us we managed to account for all of the cousins, everyone is alive and well…

On all of the postcards sent by soldiers the first thing written was 'I'm in good health'. With all of their problems and discomfort their first concern was always to reassure their families.

I’ve also written about the Menin Gate on another blog.

Loulou

Loulou was a seal who became lost and ended up entertaining visitors at a café on the West coast of France. Today there is a restaurant “Loulou Phoque” named after the seal. I’ve been reading the reviews of the restaurant, expensive, but worth every penny!

The sacred stone

Somewhere in Brittany is a sacred stone said to come to the aid of sterile women. The instructions on the postcard say all you need to do is sit on the stone and hope - just like this lady.

Keep them on a string

Now we know where the idea of 'stringing him along' or 'keeping him on a string' comes from. Click on the postcard for a better view.