CAN YOU SPOT THE DIFFERENCE?

Pietermaritzburg historian Mark Coghlan found this tray in an antique and collectables shop called Treasures & Trash on the Midlands Meander a couple of months ago. It is a photograph of the Durban beachfront taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The buildings in the view are the Model Dairy Tea Room, the aquarium and the Coo-ee Bungalow Tea Room and, beyond that, the Lido.

Further behind is the distinct landmark of Addington Hospital,

Coghlan said the metal tray was in remarkably good condition, apart from a few scratches, and the picture of the beachfront was perfectly clear.

Then the story of the tray took an unusual turn when our Pictures Editor, Shelley Kjonstad, told us a picture of the tray had been used before, in 2014, when Hettie Howard, from Durban, brought in a tray featuring the Durban beachfront. The two pictures were compared and, to our astonishment, while very similar, there are distinct differences, such as different vehicles on the roads and a train on the tracks.

In 2014 Howard said her tray had been bought by her mother when she relocated to Durban from Ermelo after the death of her husband. She said she thought her mom bought it in the 1960s and, judging by the cars, that would be about right.

The tray had been well used over the years, judging by the scratches and marks, but was in amazingly good condition considering its age.

How either picture was taken is also a bit of mystery because the overhead cable car was not in existence at that stage. Were there a series of pictures taken on the same day? Both in 2014 and this week, our photographers have used the cable car to try to match the picture as closely as possible, but could not get the angle quite right as the old picture was taken from a completely different angle and elevation. Feedback on the mystery trays from readers is welcome – e-mail satmail@inl.co.za

The Independent on Saturday appeals to readers who have old pictures of Durban and other parts of the province to send them to us for consideration. If any readers are featured in the old picture, we will do our best to recreate the scene with them in it again. Readers sending pictures digitally – images should be about 1MB – can address them, with the relevant information, to satmail@inl.co.za

If the pictures are in hard copy format, they can be posted to The Editor, Old Pictures, The Independent on Saturday, PO Box 47549, Greyville, 4023.