This is the third and last of my recent purchases.

Who: The main characters are two 'sew-sew' women, who would mend and adjust items of clothing for a small fee. There is also a younger girl - probably a daughter of one of the women - with her back to us, leaning against the little stool on the right. I've just been writing about a similar photo for a section on hawkers in my next book, which is why this one caught my eye.

 

What: Their baskets carry scraps of material they use in their work, and also the pot that held their lunch.

The other photo I mentioned showed similar items, but under the magnifying glass I also noticed a difference.

This is the second of my recent purchases. It's only a small image, roughly 2 inches by 2 inches, but when I used my magnifying glass I could see it showed something I've written about, but hadn't yet seen a photo of.

 

What: Here's a closer look so you can see what caught my interest.

Who: The main characters in this scene are the people on the sampan in the foreground.

As far as I can remember, in most if not all the photos we have of sampans, it is a woman rowing. (While in the photos we have of western-style rowing boats, the crews are always men.) This photo follows the pattern, with a smiling young mother rowing the boat.

Her two passengers are presumably heading out to one of the larger boats in the harbour. The fishermen typically wore dark clothes, not lighter colours that show the dirt more easily. So perhaps the man at the front of the boat is visiting on business, or maybe he is heading back to a boat after attending some special occasion ashore?

 

What: The boat above the lady has two large baskets hanging off the back. They are two very different designs, so were they made for specific uses?

Several of the other boats are festooned with laundry, including a fancy three-level washing line on the boat in the distance (Update: JohnS notes the three-level line is more likely being used to dry fish). Must have been good drying weather that day!

Where: The postcard originally had this caption at bottom left, identifying the location as the harbour at Shau Kei Wan.

When: This is a Real Photo Postcard (RPPC), but as they were sold in Hong Kong from the 1920s through to the 1950s, it doesn't narrow down the date very much. 

Sometimes the back of an RPPC is pre-printed with details of the paper's manufacturer, and that can help pin down the date.

No manufacturer's details here though. Instead the paper looks to have been sold with a blank back, then the postcard seller used an inked stamp to add the text and the 'W H' stamp box. From the Hong Kong RPPCs I've seen, those with pre-printed backs were mostly produced before WW2, while those with stamped backs came after the war. Based on that, I'll guess the 1950s for the date this photo was taken.

If you can spot any clues in the photo that help identify the date, or if you have a mailed copy of this postcard with a postmark that shows a date, please let us know in the comments below.