People fool around even in wartime. It’s their nature.
Bonus: I walk past this pencil sharpener every day. It might well be original library equipment.
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The sharpener has been replaced in the last 10 years. Not sure how old the stand is…
No kidding? It looks ancient!
The stand is totally impractical unless the base weighs 100 pounds. You need a solid mount to an immovable object – like a steel drafting tabletop. Otherwise the sharpener is going to move around under the cranking gyrations and leave your rock hard Staedler HB-1 imperfectly pointed.
BTW – that unit is far younger than the Apsco Dexter Model 3 in service at our house. I wouldn’t even try to sharpen something without it clamped to a workbench…
It’s also turned 90 degrees out of a practical orientation.
No room to crank between it and the wall.
You’ll be bruising your elbow with it like that…
Also, who empties the shavings??
The guy on the left’s shirt looks rather non-regulation.
Is the midshipmens cap his or the tall guys?
He has collar insignia too, but – that tie…
Is he holding a Kodak 1A?
A lot of cameras in the years between 1910 and the late ’30s looked like that.
Kodak pre-WWII reflex cameras were famous for reducing to “vest pocket” size, and could be accessorized with the “Autographic” back that allowed you to write info onto the film margins at the time of shooting through a cool window.
If this was a ’40s Kodak, it would be smaller (shirt pocket) and show more bright silver metal…
I have to admit that the first thing that caught my eye was where the young lady’s hand was located.
I must admit: I had NOT noticed.
Oy vey, I’m getting old.
🙁
He’s holding her hand with his left hand and has his right hand on top of his left hand.
I believe one’s interpretations of the 3 smiles of these people could serve as a sort of Rorschach Text.
The hedges might be a better telltale of the taken date that the Naval uniform, tie styles or the camera…