Dating Old Photos Cabinet Cards

First introduced in the 1860s cabinet card photographs were similar to cartes de visite only larger measuring approximately four inches by six inches and mounted on cardstock similar to cardboard cabinet card photos got their name from their size they were just the right size to be displayed on a cabinet.

Dating old photos cabinet cards.

When we look at our old family photos one of the first things that is brought to our attention is the clothing. The most common were. Most of us have a cabinet card in our collection of old ancestral photos which tells us it was most likely taken between about 1870 and 1900. Printed mount notations such as photographer s identification and title are fairly reliable but can still provide false information.

Card mounted photographs from the 19th and early 20th century such as cartes de visites cabinet cards and stereographs can be generally dated by their format and mount type. However it has to be noted that these dating methods aren t always 100 accurate since a victorian photographer may have been using up old card stock or the cabinet card may have been a re print made many years after the photo was originally recorded. They were introduced in the 1860s and gradually superseded the smaller carte de visite format. Post civil war period beginning in 1866 and enjoyed a peak of popularity from 1870 to 1895.

Cabinet cards the larger version of the carte de visite these images were mounted on heavy card stock to keep the photos from curling. These photographs were frequently displayed in cabinets or bookcases hence the name. Cabinet cards were introduced in 1864 by a british studio called windsor bridge. The subject matter is very old but the process is much later.

Square heavy weight card. Cabinet cards are. Like today fashions in the past did change. The front of the card is usually printed or embossed with the photographer s details and the back of the cabinet card is often printed with elaborate designs.

Example of a carte de visite from the author s photo collection. Traversing the first 100 years of commercial photography we ve looked at daguerreotypes collodion positives aka ambrotypes ferrotypes aka tintypes cartes de visite and cabinet cards and now we turn to postcards the most popular format for commercial photographers from 1900 to the 1950s. First let us look at the clues that will help you to date an old photo. Learn how to identify the popular cabinet card and how to use clues such as cardstock weight and color and the type of border to narrow down the time period when the photo was.

But you can also further narrow down the time when the photo was taken. Cabinet cards are photographs mounted on stiff pieces of cardboard. That is different clues pointed to differ ent dates. What our ancestors wore and what accessories that appear in the photograph can also.

As they were larger typically 4 x 6 or 4 x 6 and printed on card stock they were more durable than other paper types.