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Archiver > NYCORTLA > 2007-01 > 1168394180


From: Tim Stowell <>
Subject: [NYCORTLA] dead photos
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:00:31 -0500


I attended an estate auction this past weekend, just up the road. The
estate was so small they had to combine two households to have enough to
make it worthwhile.

I suppose most of these work the same around the country, the first day
full price, discounted to 1/2 off if the sale is a 2 day sale. I'm not
sure how it works on longer sales.

Anyway, I went back for the second day's look and found an interesting item
sitting in a window sill of one of the bedrooms. It was an 8 x 10 of a man
in his casket.

I talked about that at lunch today to some co-workers. One lady said that
it was probably from the 1940s or before. I said it appeared to me, to be
in the early 1960's.

The point of this note though for the most part is to query how many of you
have seen such, have such in your family pictures and/or thoughts along
those lines.

I have taken such pictures, although it didn't come out too good.

As I child when I visited my grandparents in New Berlin, they had a room
where they kept all the stuff they didn't use, a sort of storage room that
was always colder than the rest of the house. When we came to see them, we
stayed in that room. It was it turns out a true treasure room, a time
capsule of sorts.

In the room there was a bed that my folks slept in and I was consigned to a
settee by the door. Over the settee and below the light switch was a
picture that I had them turn to the wall so I could sleep there. It was a
picture of my great-great grandmother in her coffin, at her funeral. In
those days, around 1903 I believe, the coffin's side would fold down so
that from the body all the way to the floor was a carpet of flowers.
Attached to the photograph was a swatch of the casket's lining.

I just wondered how prevalent such was?

Finally, I see from the weather forecast you folks are finally getting some
snow.

Tim

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