Does anyone recognize this uniform?

I know there's not much here to go on. Main question is what time period would this young man be from?



All ideas welcome.

 

That's a puzzler. Think it's a modern image meant to look old tyme-y. Could be meant to be school uniform. What does back look like?

Debora

 

It is framed a lot like decor, except:

 

I should add that seller is in England & describes it as Celluloid. Photos not adequate to know. This is all pixellated:

 

Hum. Puzzler. If I were to guess -- which obviously I am doing -- I'd think early 20th century. World War I-ish perhaps? And created from a photograph.

Debora

 

That's pretty much how I was seeing it too.

I didn't quite think of it that way, but did wonder whether the cap is not military at all. Can't tell whether what is on the cap is the outline of an insignia or just the indication of a badge with light glaring off it.

I see this kind of finding a lot on jet brooches. No reason it couldn't turn up in the twentieth century, but it would have been pretty old fashioned already by 1900.

 

Or a sketch?

 

As for the cap, he looks a bit old for a public school boy, but maybe this or similar?

http://www.sports-memorabilia-museum.com/baseball-history/caps.shtml

 

Lenin in cap:

 

The cap could be military, academic or sporting. But the coat and its collar certainly give it a military air. The neck is cross-hatched as well. Do you think that's meant to indicate a scarf or other neck covering?

Debora

 

It's possible we've had one too many pieces of horse racing memorabilia lately, but I'm thinking jockey.

A quick glance through 19th century jockeys shows multiple ones with quirky little bows and bobs where that one has the weird bit in front.

I am making some allowances because I don't think the artist was confident about that hat.

 

or tennis. (the collar may be too wrong for jockey)

I dunno, this rabbit hole is deep and twisty.

 

maybe cricket.

 

My first thought was 'English Schoolboy' .. my brothers wore similar attire back in the day, but the young man looks older, so maybe not. As an aside .. the boys wore cap white shirt, blazer, knee-pants, knee socks, and lace-up shoes. Blazer and cap were adorned with the school crest. At the age of thirteen they graduated to long pants and started to 'strut' . It is of course much different now. The girls had unifofms too ... I HATED mine ... Joy.

 

That seems plausible.
Being that I’m in the USA, I was thinking it kind of has a mechanic/operator kind of vibe to it.

 

Think my eye was glossing over it as shadow, but it's very dark, so maybe a neck scarf wound tightly & ends tucked in. I'm also not sure whether there is a jacket or just a shirt. Kind of looks to me like he's wearing a necktie that is slightly loosened, with the end tucked into the jacket/shirt to keep it out of the way. Person who etched it was more concerned with the face, I would say, leaving us to guess about the details.

That was my first idea when my thoughts turned to sports, & it led to finding the old baseball caps. Cricket caps are traditionally like the ones worn by Tweedledum & Tweedledee, I think?

 

There's a pretty good variety of caps. And not everyone was particular about fit.

At one point I thought your piece was very likely Wilfred Rhodes, but it seems he always had at least a whisper of a moustache.

 

Scrimshaw from England makes me think Royal Navy. This is a ship's corporal:



http://www.victorianweb.org/history/navy/22.html