@imagine.ink wrote:Long time, no post. I recently had another cool photo find which sold for over $50.00; here is the listing on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303330950364?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649
Cracker Factory Ghost?
Because that link will eventually go "dead," here is the auction description:
Real photo postcard (found in St. Louis, Missouri) with great detail of a building which appears to be the site of the present day Alton Cracker Factory, depicting a bakery at the turn of the last century with visible signage for Noll's Bakery as well as Mercantile Cigars, circa 1918.
This is a 3 1/2" tall x 5 1/2" wide vintage matte real photo postcard (RPPC).
Divided back, postally unused with an AZO stamp box. The AZO stamp box with two corners pointing up and two corners down definitively dates the photograph to 1918-1930; however, other clues, such as the Red Cross signage in the window, date the photo to the World War I era of 1918.
Advertising on the glass window reads:
Ph. [Phone] Noll's Bakery
Notice the Bell Telephone signage on the side of the building, indicating that the business had a telephone line.
The upper window features advertising for Mercantile Cigars. The F.R. Rice Tobacco Company was based in St. Louis, Mo. and manufactured Mercantile Cigars, a well known local seller.
Excerpted from The Telegraph.com:
In 1896, George Noll purchased Daniels Bakery, which made him the owner of four such businesses. The shops were located on Belle, Third and two shops on Second (Broadway). Noll operated his business in the name of George Noll Steam Baking & Confectionary Co. but changed it to Noll Baking & Ice Cream Co. in 1914. Noll's was one of the Alton bakeries that was required to substitute 5 percent of the wheat it used in its bread, calling it Victory Bread during World War I.
(End of excerpt)
My research indicates that the bakery building may still be extant in Alton, Illinois, now known as the Alton
Cracker Factory and operated as rental condos. (Please see last scanned photo for a collage showing the present day Alton Cracker Factory superimposed on the Noll's Bakery photo.)
Most fascinating, during my research into this photo, I discovered a description of a ghost that loosely matches the description of the man in the photo.
A book titled The Maverick Ghost Hunter relates the haunting of the Kendall Cracker Factory - later known as Daniels Bakery (and purchased by George Noll in 1896, as cited above). When the building was converted to antique shops, owners in the 1990s recounted tales of a whistling ghost.
The ghost was described as a full-fledged apparition having long, dark hair, a straight nose, and wearing black pants, a vest and a shirt with old-fashioned billowy sleeves. He put in numerous appearances and was a "friendly" apparition.
Could the ghost who haunts the building be the man in the photo? Note the long, billowy sleeves of his shirt under the baker's apron.
Who is this man and could he be the mysterious apparition that haunts the present incarnation of the building before which he so proudly stands in this 100 year old photo?
Real photo postcards are, in fact, real photos and are often one-of-a-kind views or printed in very small runs.
The postcard is in excellent condition. The clarity of the man and woman are very crisp, but the light on the window makes the window lettering more visible under magnification. The word BAKERY is extremely noticeable to the naked eye, however.
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What's so interesting about this photo exceeding $50 is that it's the story, not simply the bakery image, that sold it.
I bought the photo when we visited my hometown of St. Louis in September/early October. I'm always on the hunt for old photos wherever I am.
I liked the bakery window and knew as soon as I bought it that I would research its whereabouts (city, town, state, etc.) based on the name of the bakery. It didn't cost much, so if my research led nowhere, I figured it would sell based on the fact it was an interesting commercial window from days gone by.
However, when I ran across the connection to a ghost (!), I was excited and knew it would be the perfect photo to list in time for Halloween.
That ghost story caused the photo to sell for over 50 times what I originally paid for it!
(Note that the links I put in my listing were "removed by eBay" but the source material was cited.)
@imagine.ink -- Funny, but I ran across your listing while recently looking for photos to buy. I like it! Can't remember what I was searching when I found it, though. I had already decided not to bid, and then noticed the seller was you!
I'm glad things are going well for you.
Cool, Mike!
I grew up across the river from Alton in Florissant, a suburb of St. Louis. After doing my research on Alton for this photo, it made me want to visit Alton, too! Sounds like the town has undergone a lot of historical renovation in the years since we lived across the river from it.
But I actually bought the photo in South St. Louis on Cherokee Street (on Antiques Row).
The buyer of the photo lives in Alton, so the image of the whistling ghost has gone home to rest keep on whistling. 
