The Mustached Mystery

I have a few photos that I plan to add here to the Ephemera Board, right now, this photo interests me because I have no idea what it says! Maybe someone here can help me figure out where this was taken and what language it's in? I'm assuming Germany, maybe? But first you'll have to decipher the handwriting!

I believe the postcard is addressed to:
"Mari Klink
558 W. 51 St.
New York"
???

 

The last line in the address is "Amerika."

The stamps are from Austria. Whoops! Not Austria, Germany as you suspected.

 

I don't know very much German, and even less can I read the handwriting. However, I believe the first two words are "Liebe Schwester" which means "Dear Sister." And the last word appears to be Hans, which might be the first name of the person in the photo?

 

Now I'm not so sure again. The "return" address in the message section appears to be Innsbruck and the stamps seem to say Deutchosterreich - which would be Austria. The denominations of stamp value are in Heller and Kronen.

 

C J - Does it look to you like the handwritten date is 1921?

 

Definitely "German Austria" aka the First Republic which ran from 1918 - 1938. This Wiki article references the designs on your stamp (although no pictures of them are shown) in the section for this time period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_Austria

 

Yes, now that I'm able to look a little more closely at it, I do think the year written may be 1921!

 

Thank you so much for the link!

 

I also wanted to mention that the photo looks like an older style carte-de-visite (CDV) photo but it also appears to have address lines printed on the back as if it were a postcard. What is the size of this, and is the photo printed on a piece of paper that is glued onto a card? I know that in Europe the CDV size was used well into the 20th century, much later than it was in use in the United States. But the oval framing around the head is what I meant by the older style.

 

OH MY GOODNESS. I'm so embarrassed, I just realized I made a mistake in uploading my images. I scanned this photograph a few months ago and labeled it "mustache" and the back "mustacheb". Turns out I got the front image confused because I have another image labeled "mustache2".


This image goes with the postcard back! Thank you for asking me to measure the size so I could check it out. The postcard is 13.5 centimeters x 8.5 centimeters.

 

That was a "thing" around WWI and just after. Photos were printed on postcards so you could mail them. It was done here too. @Dennis Vogt is a paper guy and I'm betting he knows more than I do. The card went to 558 West 51st Street, New York NY. I can't read the message handwriting other than the Dear Sister line. It went here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/5...853918b4369e86!8m2!3d40.7661507!4d-73.9933447 - Hell's Kitchen. Not a nice neighborhood at the time.

 

Come to think, it was done in the US during the War because of rationing. They couldn't get photographic paper but could print postcards, so.... I have one around somewhere of my grandfather in his WWI uniform. It wasn't mailed, as most weren't.

 

I'm glad I asked, too! That explains a lot.

 

This second guy with the blond moustache is Hans from Austria? Does look much more Germanic than the first picture.

 

Are you sure this (second) dude actually HAS a mustache? It looks drawn on to me!!!!!!! Oh, my worn out eyesight..................

 

Didn't the Kaiser have one like that?

 

Yeah, but HE didn't look like a Fascist Youth Recruiting poster...............

 

This guy looks like he shouldn't have bothered trying.