Who is this woman and just what is she holding?

The curled and torn 8 x 10 photo was tucked away in a house full of antiques in Carmine.

Surely she was someone famous, or someone who wanted to be famous. Why else would she -- with the beaming face, evening dress and platinum blond hair -- be at the long-gone Shamrock Hotel? And who was that guy eyeing her, seemingly oblivious to the fact a camera was pointed at them?

We do know the photo was taken by commercial photographer Victor Helm. Judging by the "Shamrock" typeface on the plate, this photo could have been taken before the property was acquired by the Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1954.

Not being fully up on celebs from the late 1940s or 1950s, I showed the picture to a copy editor who is considered the Chronicle's resident expert on the Golden Age of Hollywood. Didn't look familiar.

I posted the picture on the Bayou City History Facebook page in the dim hope that someone would see their mother or grandmother.

No relatives came forward. But there were some good guesses: Joan Robinson Hill, Marilyn Monroe, Carroll Baker, Rene Carpenter. But, again, nothing.

Then another mystery surfaced among readers, one I didn't see coming.

Just what is she holding? Is it a deviled egg? Or a lemon wedge? Maybe an artichoke?

So, it looks like we have another mystery photo on our hands, just like earlier this year. This one, though, is going to take a little more time to solve.