Naming Faces

Sadly not a fun book/tv series, where a bunch of kids go around solving mysteries, but an update on my photo engravings investigation. I believe I’ve discovered the identities of two of my three mystery figures. The blocks themselves have little to no identifying features. But once printed I was able to google image search and have found two characters that I think are plausible matches. So without further ado may I present Mystery Man No.1…

Charles C. Collins

Left: Chuck in 1931 as head coach. Right: Print from my engraving

Chuck Collins, as he was often referred to, was an American footballer and coach. He was born 27th August 1903. He had a wife named Nell, three sons, Charles, David and Edmund and one daughter, Penelope. There is certainly a good amount of information and leads regarding his career, but not much is known about his personal life. I’ve yet to reach out to the universities he worked for as a coach, but hopefully that might be able to shed some light on his football career. I’m afraid I’m not much of an expert on American football (I’m more familiar with the other kind of football), but from what I can tell he seems to have had a good career. I found an image of a younger Chuck, helpfully in a very similar pose. The only slight difference I could really spot, other than his age, was his left ear. It looks a little larger in my image. This could be down to the camera angle, or perhaps a slight injury known as cauliflower ear. It’s hard to age my photo or to know the context it was taken in. The image I found online was taken from 1931 year book of the University of North Carolina. Where he is featured on page 246, the head coach of the football team. He would have been around 28. From a guess I would say Chuck looks to be in his early 40s in my printed image, which would date the image around the 1940s. It was an article from the New York times that gave me a better insight into Chuck’s life. He seems to be a self made man, started out life as a coach and ended up practising law in his later years. I’ve also been able to trace a direct living descendant, who I plan to reach out to soon and learn more about Chuck and his life. And of course gift one of the prints.

Print of my found photo engraving likely to be Chuck Collins

Felicjan Sypniewski

Left: Felicjan Sypniewski, botanist. Right: Print from my found photo engraving

I believe my second photo engraving is that of Felicjan Sypniewski. Although the lighting and angles are very different, having analysed the features, I do believe I have a match. Felicjan was born 24th January 1822 and died aged 55, on the 6th of September 1877, due to illness. He was a Polish botanist and a scientist. His work was ground-breaking particularly concerning malacologist and diatoms. His first wife Walerya died shortly after giving both to their son Joesf, in 1850. After several years Felicjan remarried, his second wife was named Walentyna (Valentina). They had four children together. Felicjan has been somewhat difficult to research, its been hard finding out details, often relying on google translate. I think there is still more to find but will require some specialist sources and a lot more time.

Print of my found photo engraving likely to be Felicjan Sypniewski

The mystery continues - Unknown Man

Left: Print of mystery man. Right: Sketch of print

Google image had been serving me pretty well until this point. But due to the quality of the block the results were far less helpful. Unable to make out the distinct features, Google was only able to match images of a similar poor quality. However I do have hope, as what features this character does have are quite noticeable and distinct. I’m working on creating a life like sketch and portrait to see if that might help. The source of the photo engravings are unknown. They were discovered in a junk shop in Brighton. I will do my best to keep you all updated on any progress. If you know anything about these three fellas, or they look familiar to you, please do reach out. I’d love to hear your stories and theories. You can contact me at info@estherstephenson.com

Until next time

Esther
Amateur Art Detective