A pair of well dressed young siblings are the subjects of this vintage real photo postcard. These are cute kids. The little girl is wearing a long necklace with large beads and has a small purse on her lap. The boy three piece suit makes him look older than his years. Note his cap; it appears to be leather. There is a message on the reverse of this postcard that is in a language that I am unable to identify. I would appreciate any help with that task, from any Cabinet Card Gallery visitor that may recognize the country of origin of this written language. After doing some research, it appears to me that the language is Russian. I am not particularly confident with that assessment. This postcard is very likely from the 1920’s. The postcard has excellent clarity and is in very good condition (see scans).
Buy this Vintage Real Photo Postcard (includes shipping within the US) #3451
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Buy this Vintage Real Photo Postcard (includes International shipping outside the US) 3451
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THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
It looks like shorthand to me.
Thanks for sharing your impression. Perhaps you are correct and it is shorthand.
Have you tried turning it upside down ( which could turn out to be right side up!). It looks a LOT like a “secret code” that my first boyfriend invented with distorted English alphabet letters. And a bit like another I invented to keep my journal during college years. Needless to say, I never learned shorthand!
I spent more time than you would imagine trying to distinguish top from bottom. I should have just tossed a coin and went with the “heads and tails” method.
This card is written in Yiddish script. The letters are those of the Hebrew language, but it sounds like German. In fact, it IS derived from medieval German. When the Jews were driven from Spain in 1492, some went north in the direction of Germany, Poland, and Russia, and eventually developed Yiddish. Others went south from Spain, settling in the Middle East and Northern Africa, and they developed Ladino, which is based on medieval Spanish. I hope the children who are pictured eventually emigrated to the US or elsewhere before World War II, avoiding the vast slaughter perpetuated by the Nazis.
Thank you so much for Identifying the language written on the reverse of the postcard. In addition, thanks for providing so much background information. I too, hope that the children made it out of Europe in time to escape the horror of the holocaust and the war.
“a sheynem dank” (thank you very much). If I had paid more attention to my grandparents conversations, I would probably understand Yiddish today.
Initially, I saw this as Hebrew script, but on closer reading I can see it is Yiddish.
Georgian?
On Sun, Mar 7, 2021 at 10:15 AM THE CABINET CARD GALLERY wrote:
> bmarshphd posted: ” A pair of well dressed young siblings are the subjects > of this vintage real photo postcard. These are cute kids. The little girl > is wearing a long necklace with large beads and has a small purse on her > lap. The boy three piece suit makes him look” >
It’s Yiddish. You can likely get a translation from a volunteer on the free site Viewmate which is part of Jewishgen.org.
Thanks so much for identifying the language and the recommendation to check out viewmate.