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Mining, Early 1900s - Chinese Washing Tin Ore
The first picture shows a scan of the front of a Kaulfuss postcard. At the bottom of this postcard are the words “Chinese washing tin ore. Perak.” The second picture shows the back of the (unused) postcard.
The third picture is an advertisement from his Photographic Art Studio in Penang, supplied by Ipoh Remembered.
August E. Kaulfuss
Augustus Kaukfuss was born (1861) and educated in Rohnstock, Silesia. He served in the German Navy for two years, probably in the late 1870s or early 1880s. Circa 1876-circa 1878 Kaulfuss worked in the photographic studio of Otto van Bosch in Frankfurt. After this he worked as a photographer in various parts of Germany. He arrived in Penang (also known as Pinang) in 1883. In 1886 he established a photographic firm. The firm was based at 9 Farquhar Street and, in 1908, was the oldest established photographic firm in Penang.
In "British Malaya"' (Wright, Arnold and Cartwright, H.A. ed. (1907), 'Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya), Wright states that:
"Kaulfuss ... has travelled extensively, having traversed on foot the whole of the Malay Peninsula, from Province Wellesley in the north to Johore in the south, at a time when there were few good roads and no railways. He explored the country behind the territory of Kedah, prospecting for minerals, and visited Bangkok. He is photographer to H.H. the Sultan of Kedah, and has taken a unique collection of photographs in the Malay Peninsula."
Editor's Note: According to Ipoh Remembered, Augustus Kaulfuss died in Penang in 1908 of a heart attack. He was only forty-seven. His widow, Clara, gave up the lease on the property, sold the business, and took the children back to Germany.