So here we have Italy, the birthplace of Salvatore Ferragamo. And now the story really begins, for he was born on the 5th of June, 1898, in Bonito, Campania, Italy, to a very poor family, despite which he was the eleventh child. And three more children were born after him.
We know very little about his early life, only that he was fascinated by shoes from a young age, and made his first pair of high heels at the age of nine, which were for his sisters to wear at their confirmation. This fact suggests that the somewhat large size of the family could well have been due to multiple births.
Anyway he so enjoyed constructing the shoes, and remodelled them several times before he accepted they were ready, that he then announced he wanted to be a shoemaker when he grew up.
This seems to have been accepted by his family and he never wavered from this decision, so when he was only thirteen he was sent off to study shoemaking in Naples. That was the centre of the craft, and it specialised, then and now, in making the shoe fit the foot - and not the other way around as was more usual. This meant that as part of the training the students had to study the form of the foot.
When he was fourteen he returned home, and opened a shop, in part of his parents` home. This was, almost certainly, discussed by the locals, and it must have brought him quite a bit of custom from them, which expanded when they realised that yes, he was young, but also he knew his craft.
This is yet another back for Suchard, but this is a larger card than many of those we have featured before. And the back is extraordinarily lightly printed - but I will have another go, at getting it more visible.
As for a date, that is based on the fact that the Suchard branch in New York, mentioned on this card, was opened about 1901.
I do not know how many complete this set, though those found so far suggest it may be twelve. For one thing, Switzerland, the home of Suchard, is not there. Also, no France. With those, it is eleven.
Again I will number them, to make it easier, but when no more can be found it will revert to a bulleted list - unless someone knows that these cards are numbered, and where!
The ones I know of so far are
- Allemagne [Germany]
- Angleterre [Great Britain]
- Autriche-Hongrie [Austria-Hungary]
- Belgique [Belgium]
- Italie [Italy]
- Nederlande [Netherlands]
- Russie [Russia]
- Sverige [Sweden]
- Turquie [Turkey]