Just today I had the chance to visit him again, and obtain a copy of said photo.
Below you'll see what that photo was of - I make it as a 26/27 T, but of course I'm no expert and no doubt someone will be able to shed further light on that.
I also include an image of the back of the photo which appears to have 'H97' stamped/written on it. Additionally, and very indistinctly, the paper has 'Velox' printed diagonally across the back. From what I can glean the latter confirms the date of the photograph as circa 1940's-1950's, but what the 'H97' refers to is a little more murky. Most likely it's a photographer's or developer's code, but so far I've not found anything to pin it down further.
In any event how Steve came about the photo has an air of intrigue, and it would be nice to be able to solve the mystery it currently presents....
The story goes that the photo was inside a silver case that belonged to Steve's father (photo of case included below). Inside the case is an inscription "Carol from Byrne 1945", and outside the case is a stylised 'K W', which are his father's intitials. In fact his father's name was Karol, and he is believed to have been in the Polish parachute regiment in late 1944 or early 1945. The regiment was based in Scotland, but further to the story Steve believes Karol spent some time in the U.S. on a training regime.
From what I've been able to glean most of the U.S. parachute training around this time took place in the south. Whether this is where Karol was sent isn't certain, but given the info on the photographic paper, and that it's a LHD T, it seems likely that the photograph, and possibly the silver case, are from his time in the U.S. during WW2.
I, of course, have been winding Steve up, suggesting that 'Byrne' could have been Karol's girlfriend of the time, and that he (Steve) may have sibling(s) he's not aware of
! However, while that's possible, to be more serious I supposed it's more probable that when he went to the U.S. Karol and some mates could have bought or borrowed the T and gone on a few outings when they had some leave, and 'Byrne' could be a (male) comrade - 'Byrne' is meant to be a boy's name.Anyway, I wonder if anyone could shed some light on what you see? Perhaps the trees in the photo may be unique to a certain place, or someone might recognise what looks like a frame at the lower right behind the foreground tree?
The main photograph:
Back of photo:
Outside of silver case:
Inside of case:
Wabi-Sabi
