William Bliss Store and Shopkeepers, "We Belong to the Working Class," RPPC, 1906 1940 drawing or hang on the wall

or hang on the wall

The detailed carving of the hands and cuffs of the figure directs focus there--to his heart

with royalty and high-ranking officials considering it fashionable to wear carved fruit pit accessories

and the cutouts forming heart patterns at the center of the handle

William Bliss Store and Shopkeepers, "We Belong to the Working Class," RPPC, 1906 1940 drawing or hang on the wallSuch a special one, I think! Hard to know which of this proud shopkeepers of William Bliss scrawled the note at the bottom of the front of this real photo postcard from 1906, but what a wonderful proclamation, and how poised and ready for business these six look! I tried searching for records of a William Bliss store in Whitman, MA, where it seems this postcard originated, but while I found many families with the name of Bliss in these parts, I didn't