[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

Scott, something involving view-camera movements seems to me to be the only way to achieve an undistorted projection--unless, of course, what was projected was distorted to compensate, or composed so as to mask the distortion. The fact that the area is rectangular implies a rectangular projection, which suggests an optical compensation.

I too am fascinated by the question. Now, where's my time machine?

I'm glad that you “feel my pain”, Otis Criblecoblis - boy, I'd love to see how they worked out the problem. If you find your time machine, please allow me to tag along for the ride!



Since the horse trough in my prior post was identified so quickly, does anyone care to take a stab at the object below? Even a wild guess? Maybe it's some kind of portable fortune teller's booth?

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Does anyone know what this object is?

LINK to full sized image

It looks like we are seeing the back of a little blonde haired girl kneeling, but maybe not... if so, she seems out of proportion with the man in the foreground (the girl appears too large). Black smoke appears to surround the object, but I believe the “smoke” is actually some kind of stain on the photographic negative.

The object, which may be some kind of cart or vehicle, seems to be highly ornate and decorative, and the design seems to feature Indian style, Ogee arches.

Anyone have any ideas what this thing was?