SALISBURY, England — A photography shop in Salisbury is working to solve a decades-old mystery after a used camera purchased at a thrift store was found to contain undeveloped film with images dating back roughly 70 years.
The camera, a 1930s Zeiss Ikon Baby Ikonta purchased by a local photographer, still held a roll of exposed film that, once carefully developed by the Salisbury Photo Centre, revealed a series of black-and-white photographs showing a family ski trip in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and another scene featuring a group of women at tea outside what appears to be an English country house.
Among the recovered images were shots of skiers wearing numbered bibs outside the iconic Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps, pointing to the possibility the photos were taken in the 1950s when the film type was in use.
Salisbury Photo Centre has publicly shared some of the images on social media in hopes that members of the public may recognize the people or settings and help piece together the story behind the snapshots, highlighting how objects from the past can surface in unexpected ways and capture moments long forgotten.