Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Elsi Gumier postcards

These postcards have been around the house for as far as I can remember; My mum received them after my great grandmother died. However, I never really paid them much notice until recently. I found them in a pile and considering how old they are I thought it was quite sad, so I retrieved them and decided to look at them properly for the first time.

Below are photos of each postcard, with the writing on them underneath each photo with notes (in brackets) by me to try and provide a little more information.

 "Alegrías (a type of flamenco), 91"
 "Bulerías (another type of flamenco), 88"
 "Cidade Do Funchal, Madeira (a Portuguese archipelago), Florista, Portugal"
 "Andalucía (Andalusia, a Spanish autonomous community), 96"
 "Madrid (Spanish capital), 93"
 "Andalucía, 33"
 "Viana Do Castelo, Minhota, 14, Portugal"
 "Grønland (Greenland, autonomous country within Kingdom of Denmark), Danmark (Denmark)"

There is a serious lack of any information on this "Elsi Gumier" on the internet. When I tried to google them, all I could find was another blog post trying to find out who they are (here) and people selling them on ebay and etsy. It seems as though the postcards date from the 1950's going by some of the listings that I found. Also, when I decided to research the origins of the name "Elsi" it seems as though it is mostly used in English, Spanish and German speaking countries (but it used in many others, as well) and the surname "Gumier" is of German origin. So by that evidence I'd presume she was German. However, most of her cards seem to be based on either Spain or Portugal in one way or another, which suggests that she is either Spanish or Portuguese, so ultimately I have no idea.

I have decided to take a couple more photos too, after noticing that Elsi uses two different signatures, and also to compare a possibly damaged/blue postcard with one that isn't blue.


 (It took me ages to realise that their surname was actually "Gumier" as I misread it as "Yurnier".)
The background and skin tones are the most noticeable differences, with the card on the right being a lot more blue than the card on the left.

So if anybody out there knows more than I was able to find out about Elsi Gumier, please comment and let me know! Also, if they know if the blue is some sort of damage (I personally believe it is sunlight damage) let me know.

Before I finish this blog, I'm going to write a little about the picture frames that these postcards are in. When my mum received the postcards, they were already framed and she has never removed them from the frame. I actually did remove a postcard to see if I could learn anything about the frame, it is an "Elsinore" frame which was made in Denmark. When I tried to google this however all it did was find some expired ebay listings and a framing service of the same name in America... I have no idea if they're linked or not however. Any information about the frames would also be awesome, however, so if you know anything, again, please comment.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Around Hardwick Hall

I've not updated properly for a while and I know I'm a bit crap at blogging (sorry!) but I'm hopefully going to update more often again, soon. I'm just very forgetful and disorganised... It's no good, no good at all.

Before I get started, I will tell you now that we didn't actually go to Hardwick Hall, but explored some of the grounds around it, no, not the gardens. Sorry to disappoint! However, the area we explored was lovely, and so full of life. There were so many animals from lairy geese to lazy cows and all in between:


Sorry that you can't see the heron very clearly, I tried to get closer for a better photo but it flew across to the other side of the pond after a few more steps... Probably to get away from me.







One of my favourite things about this time of the year though is the plant life, I love to see the world come alive in all different shades.







 If anybody knows the name of these flowers/can identify them, please let me know what they are. :)

And as I put it in the title of the post, why not include a glimpse of Hardwick Hall, as well? If you love cows, this photo will be doubley awesome.


Well, that's all! I hope you enjoyed these photos and that you're all having a wonderful summer (it is summer now, right?). Bye for now!