File:Antwerp Central railway station post card photograph "Souvenir d'Anvers", "Façade de la gare centrale en construction", "Ed. Nels, Bruxelles. Serie 25 No. 49".tif

Summary[edit]

Licensing[edit]

	This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. This applies to the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of 70 years after the work was made available to the public and the author never disclosed their identity. Important: Always mention where the image comes from, as far as possible, and make sure the author never claimed authorship.
	Note: In Germany and possibly other countries, certain anonymous works published before July 1, 1995 are copyrighted until 70 years after the death of the author. See Übergangsrecht. Please use this template only if the author never claimed authorship or their authorship never became public in any other way. If the work is anonymous or pseudonymous (e.g., published only under a corporate or organization's name), use this template for images published more than 70 years ago. For a work made available to the public in the United Kingdom, please use Template:PD-UK-unknown instead.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929. Public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. If the work is not a U.S. work, the file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the source country. Note: This tag should not be used for sound recordings.PD-1923Public domain in the United States//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antwerp_Central_railway_station_post_card_photograph_%22Souvenir_d%27Anvers%22,_%22Fa%C3%A7ade_de_la_gare_centrale_en_construction%22,_%22Ed._Nels,_Bruxelles._Serie_25_No._49%22.tif

I consulted the post card via multiple sources, on all of which there was no mention of the photographer. The postcard which contained the photograph however, is published by the company "Ed. Nels". Also on other post cards by that company (checked both front and back), there was no mention of the exact photographers.

The post card is part of its series "25", and the picture is "No. 49" in that series. That the post card is numbered, means that it must have been published after the start of the company's numbering process in 1898/1900.

The picture can not have been originated after 1900, since there is a published version of this post card available which is signed in 1900 (Cf. Wagemans, Stan, Centraal Station, spoorwegkathedraal. Antwerpen op de rails, toen en nu, Davidsfonds Uitgeverij nv, Leuven, 2011, “Antwerpen-Centraal, de spoorhal”.). Some sources have claimed the photograph is from 1899.

The company "Ed. Nels" was founded by Édouard Nels in 1898, together with some aid by his brother Paul Nels (both from Haute-Yutz in the region of Lorraine in France), who left the company in 1902. They collected their photographs for their postcard by travelling by bike, train or steam-tram. Their older brother, Louis Nels (born in Over-Jentz, German on 16 December 1855; died at Neuerburg, Germany on 13 November 1910) taught them photographing skills, but the photographs were also taken by other amateur and professional photographers.

Édouard Nels was born on 9 September 1869 in Haute Yutz and died on 6 January 1925 in Schruns (Tyrol); and was buried in the old cemetary of Limal in Wavre.

Conclusion: the photograph was taken by an anonymous/unspecified photographer, but it has been published on a postcard more than 100 years ago; which means its copyright has expired.

This is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modifications: Retouched the picture so as to remove some darker brown spots (due to the ageing process of the medium); and cropped. Modifications made by Vincent Mia Edie Verheyen.

References[edit]

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