Figure 1.--The portrait here shows an unidentified German boy. The boy looks to be about 5-6 years old. The dealer handling this image thought it was taken in the 1930s. This is possible, but after assessing the image it looks to us perhaps like the 1940s, perhaps the early 40s.

The portrait here shows an unidentified German boy. The boy looks to be about 5-6 years old. The dealer handling this image thought it was taken in the 1930s. This is possible, but after assessing the image it looks to us perhaps like the 1940s, perhaps the early 40s. We note that the boy's father is missing, perhaps a way on military service. The boy is wearing a tweed short pants suit (matching coat and trousers). Note the open neck shirt. The popularity of ties varied widely from to country in Europe. We note many German boys in the 1920s and 30s wore suits with Schiller collars. This boy wears his suit with a regular collasr, but wears it much like a Schiller collar, with the collar outside his suit jacket. The suit itself is interesting. The jacket has a patch pocket with a button. There is a prominent buttonaire hole in the lapel. Most of the suits ww have seen in German images of the period are much more formal and darker (for occasions such as first communions). Note the short pants. It was still common for boys to wear short pants year round in Germany. Often mothers would dress boys still wearing short pants in long stockings when the weather turned cold. Long stockings might also be worn for dress occassions, but we not normally the warm, ribbed stockingsd the boy here is wearing. The stockings look as though they had been darned by mother. Perhaps our German readers will be able to provide some insights here.