1. "A Puzzle"
Posted by Edisto on May-27th-03 at 11:23 AM

(This has zip to do with the Borden case, but it is an interesting puzzle.)  Here's the link to an eBay auction currently running:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2931378643

The lister originally said this was a "Victorian" photograph of a little girl with a doll, and that a clue to its date was the picture of "FDR" on the wall behind her.  Well, it's unlikely that an ordinary family would have had a picture of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) on its wall in the Victorian Era.  (Queen Victoria died in 1901, and the Victorian Era died with her.)  Frank Roosevelt, born in 1882, would have been only 19 years old when Victoria died and wasn't yet a public figure. 
My first impression was that the photo was later than the lister said and might fall within the period after FDR became president (1933-45).  However, I think the room itself looks earlier than that, and the child's hairstyle and clothing appear earlier too.  The doll, about which I have some knowledge, is of a type made from the late 1800s until about 1930, so it's not much help.  However, its style of dress looks earlier than 1933 too.
I don't recognize the man in the picture, because the top of his head is cut off.  His clothing style looks earlier than 1933.  By the 1930s, collars and neckties presented a flatter picture than these do.  There's lettering under the picture, indicating it's a commercial print, but I can't read it either.  It does look as if the second word might be "Roosevelt."  I have enlarged the picture, but it's too blurry to read when made larger.
I emailed the seller and asked what the lettering says.  Her reply isn't very clear, but she did say she was going to remove the term "Victorian," while still arguing that the photo is from the early 1900s. (She did remove "Victorian.")  I don't think she can read the lettering herself and is guessing as to what it says. My estimate as to the age of the photo would be sometime between 1910 and 1930, making it unlikely that the picture on the wall is FDR.  He would have been a public figure during part of that time, but not of such magnitude that his captioned picture would be on the wall in an average home.
Can anyone tell me what the caption under the picture says?
Does anyone recognize the man in the picture from the lower part
of his face?
Could the lettering be "President Roosevelt" or "Theodore Roosevelt"?
(Theodore Roosevelt was President from 1901-09, which would fit the lister's idea about the age of the photo.  Of course, he could have left office, and his photo might still be displayed by admirers.)The problem is that the man in the picture doesn't appear to have a mustache, and Teddy had one from a very young age.
I also considered the possibility that the man in the picture is FDR before he became President, perhaps when he was Governor of New York.  But the photograph of the child is supposedly from Maine.  Why would a family in Maine have a picture of the Governor of New York?
(Incidentally, while researching FDR, I learned some new stuff about Louis Howe, who described himself as "one of the four ugliest men in New York.)
Anyone have any clues about the age of the picture, other than those I've mentioned?
(Sorry, there's no prize for correct answers!)



(Message last edited May-27th-03  12:40 PM.)

It looks to me to read "President Roosevelt" but it sure
doesn't look anything like FDR or Teddy. A good puzzle!

What some sellers wouldn't claim to be the absolute undisputable truth on Ebay can simply boggle the mind...and we all know here in Bordenia who those sellers are...don't we???  They are phew and phar between and only the honest sellers make the best deals...and don't we all know that?  So don't let some phantom phlusy with phlaming phossils attempt to phlam phusal you outta your money...

BC

I don't think it's F.D.R. either.  I also enlarged the picture and the shape of the available facial features do not resemble him.

I have a picture of FDR takem in 1909.  It seems he was interested in another mystery about supposed buried treasure on Oak Island, a small island off of Nova Scotia. At the time he was a law clerk with a Wall Street law firm. He spent a summer there on an expedition to try to recover this treasure supposedly buried in a shaft by pirates. He took it quite seriously and aven bought stock in the company doing the digging. As late as 1939 he was still corresponding with other expedition members (and the digging was still going on!) and then a little something called World War II monopolized his time.  Its actually a very interesting book, titled "The Big Dig" by D'Arcy O'Connor.



(Message last edited May-28th-03  9:52 PM.)

Oooh! He was cute!

OOO I LOVE the Mystery Treasure of Oak Island!

Well!  Today I got out my trusty "Complete Book of U. S. Presidents," which has good portraits of all the presidents.  I decided that there were a very limited number of presidents who would have worn the style of spread collar shown in the picture.  That was apparently "in" for a very brief period.  The presidents who would likely have worn such a collar were Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.  Both had mustaches.  However, Taft was a very heavy man (over 300 pounds as President)and had a large, droopy mustache.  The portrait of T. Roosevelt in my book shows him with an unfamiliar type of smaller, clipped mustache.  The man in the eBay photo might possibly have such a mustache and it might not be evident in the picture.  Otherwise, the chin, collar and tie look very much like Theodore Roosevelt.  As soon as I determined that, I went back to the eBay listing, and voila!  the seller had changed it from "FDR" to "Theodore Roosevelt."  Makes kind of a big difference in the picture's age.  Yesterday she claimed vociferously that it was FDR and I didn't know what I was talking about.  That's why we have to watch these eBay sellers!

I don't think it says Roosevelt. I think it says Thomas King and there are three handwritten letters following the name. If you use a magnifying glass you lose the look of Roosevelt as the last name.

Hmmm...well, I did use a magnifier, and then I had Keith, who has better eyes than mine, both enlarge it and look at it with a magnifier.  He still saw "Roosevelt."  Who the h*** was "Thomas King?" We did have a King for a President once, but it was 'way after this picture would have been taken, and anyway, he changed his name (or somebody else changed it for him) before assuming the presidency.  There was a Ford in his future -- and ours.  His given name wasn't Thomas either.
Whoever the man in the picture is, I think this seller needs to go back to History 101.