Mystery man South Shields

[Beavances]

Hi
Can anyone suggest when this  photo might have been taken. I find it difficult to date mans fashions! I do not know who he is so am also wondering what age he might be.

The little white smudge above his top lip seems to be a problem with the surface of the photograph, it is slightly raised and there is a corresponding dent in the back. I did wonder at first if it was made by a drawing pin but there is no hole to confirm that.

Thankyou

[japeflakes]

Not offering a date but perhaps a few less scratches for you:

[Gadget]

Double breasted jackets were fashionable from the late 1910s and through the 1920s*.  The Studios were certainly in South Shields from at least 1913.

* PS - the back looks earlier though

[Skaife]

Thankyou japeflakes he looks much clearer now. On the original the eyes are very pale, this looks a lot better.
Your comments Gadger about  the double breasted jacket has made me wonder if it was a de mob photo. Although I take the point that the back looks older.

[Gadget]

He has a kind of swagger about him doesn't he 

I can now see a faint line dividing the back into two boxes so I think it would be about 1920ish. How did you get the photo?

[jim1]

Agree 1920's.

[Skaife]

Photo was given by a member of the family (South Shields origins) No doubt he was known by them all so no need to write anything on the back!

[Ian Nelson]

I've resisted the temptation to add a Hitler Moustache but it is known that he was in England in 1923.    He studied Art in Liverpool for a time staying with family and also visited and toured London.
If not the man himself could it have been an admirer of the stub moustache and later it was scratched off in embarrassment,   stranger things have happened,  cheers, Ian

[Skaife]

Thankyou jim1 for the 1920s date confirming the earlier suggestion. Should help me at least isolate some possibilities for who it might be.
Ian your suggestion  about  scratching out what might have been a Hitler  type moustache really got me thinking. (My M-in-L regularly used adapt eyes on photographs when she didn’t like the look of them!).
I’ve now borrowed a powerful magnifier and can now see there is a tiny hole so do think it is the remnants of a pin hole - strange place to put a pin through. Looking at the back with this magnifer does also show a faint line separating it into two  parts it is a dotted line if that help.