Translate Luxembourgish on Back Late 1890s or Early 1900s Photo Postcard

[rsvp]

I have a real photo postcard from the late 1890s or early 1900s which shows a retail store in the lower floor of a brick and stone building. There is a painted banner running along the top edge of the first story that shows the store's name and advertises what it sells. The name of the store appears to be "H. J. D. BREMER". Part of the sign advertises "eisenwaaren & hausstandssachen", which Google Translate identifies as Luxembourgish for "ironware & home stuff".

There is some hand writing on the back of the card I am trying to identify which was written with a dip pen.

[Octopus]

It's definitely German. I don't know Luxembourgish, but in German "Waaren" is an obsolete spelling for "Waren", in use up to 1900 maybe.

My attempt at deciphering (well, is there a bicycle on the photo??):

-----------------
Lieber Rolf!
Schicke Dir mein Bild auf Rad, kennst mich noch?

Herzlichen Gruß
Dein Bruder
Kurt

-----------------
Dear Rolf!
Sending you a picture of me on bike, still know (recognize) me?

Affectionate regards
Your Brother
Kurt

[rsvp]

Thank for the reply! I've added a couple images.

In addition to the bike passenger and two men there is a old woman looking out the balcony window.





The front sign appears to be repeated on the side. The first part of the signs contains two unidentified words separated by a "&" which are likely goods the store sells. The front sign only contains the last few letters of these two words while the second sign contains nearly all the letters (which are more blurry).





There are a couple small signs or notes in the window which includes a suit.

[Octopus]

Solving puzzles like this is really fun. Reminds me of Shorpy, one of my favorite sites, but that is mostly limited to old photos from the U.S.

"Hausstandssachen" would be "Haushaltsartikel" today. "Eisenwaren" (ironware = hardware) are not in frequent use anymore, nor is the term, except with sellers specializing in gardening, industry goods and the like.

My guess for the other two signs:

Manufactur & Confection

Both terms refer to clothes. This shop sells hardware, household items and clothes.

"Manufaktur(ware)" is an obsolescent term ("Meterware" is the approximate current synonym I believe) and should refer to piece goods and perhaps also accessories rather than large or finished end products (such as suits or gowns).

"Konfektion" (modern spelling) is still in use. "Herrenkonfektion" is still a common term for formal attire for men, like suits etc. Either ready-made or tailor-made. It complements the "Manufactur" that comes before it on the sign.


We still don't know where the picture was taken in the first place. Kurt who is riding the bike is dressed like a sailor. I think this was in vogue for boys at the beginning of the century, perhaps more in Northern Germany than in the South. The name "Bremer" is also more prevalent there. But are there any other clues?

[Josquin]

Quite interesting! I second Octopus's solution. I read the same thing.

Might I add, however, that Luxembourgish wasn't even a written language back in the early 1900's, so it could impossibly have been this language. Back then, the only written languages in Luxembourg were French and German. Luxembourgish still used to be regarded as a dialect of German rather than a language in its own right. This only changed after WWII for political reasons.

[Octopus]

There are a couple small signs or notes in the window which includes a suit.

The sign attached to the suit is nearly illegible, but it might read Knabenanzug! If this reading is correct, the suit would be one fitting boys.

'Knabenanzug' is also an alternative term for 'Matrosenanzug' (Sailor suit), which is what Kurt and many boys of his generation happened to wear.

The other sign on the lower right seems to read Stoffe (cloth), which would be part of the "Manufactur" they are offering.

[rsvp]

I don't have any other clues at this point. This real photo postcard was purchased as part of a larger lot of photos and postcards that were printed in the U.S. and which date from 1907 to the 1930s. Unfortunately there are no names on the other items and I don't think the other items are related. This area of the U.S. had a lot of immigrants from Germany and the Scandinavian countries from the 1850s to the early 1900s so it may have been brought to the U.S. with immigrants or it may have been sent to the U.S. via the postal system. A lot of the colorful holiday postcards sold in this area from this time period were printed in Germany.

It may be from Germany as opposed to Luxembourg as Google's identification of "eisenwaaren & hausstandssachen" as Luxembourgish may be entirely wrong. Google translate often produces strange results.

I might be able to obtain some more clues as to the time period based on the bike and/or building architecture.

There appears to be some letters cut into the stone block to the left of the bike rider's head and shoulders and one of the lightning rods on the top of building appears to have a rooster shaped top above what is likely a saucer shaped glass. This will need some work in PhotoShop.



Thanks for the replies!