Dating Studio Cabinet Card Mounts: Colors--Green


Figure 1.-- This American cabinent card was taken in 1881. This cabinet card portrait was escribed, 'Esther Jackman, Jan. 1st 1881'. We believe Esther is a girl's name. Some uses varied in the 19th century, but as far as we know this was always a girl's name. Apparently a small number of boys were also named Esther. Names at the time were often Biblical. We suspect that the name was chosen to honor a relative. Notice the very dark green mount.

We have seen some green cards. They were all dark green. There were different green shades. Some were so dark as they approched black. Other were a dark, but more clearly a green shade. We are not yet sure of the chronology. Babinet cards first appeared in 1866 and we do not know much about 1860s cards. We think they were mostly done in the 1870s and 1880s, at keast the early and mid-80s. This is confirmed by examples that we have archived so far, although we do not have large numbers of examples and this can not yet be precise about the chronological trends. . The example here of Ester Jackman from Washington, D.C. was done with gold print in 1881 (figure 1). We note a portrait of Walter Hoskin from Ohio done with a mount done in a lighter green shade, although still dark in 1890. We are not yet sure about the 70s, but so not see very many of the dark green cards after the very early-90s. Light colored cards were very popular in the 1890s. We think all these dark colored cards (blue, brown, burgandy/maroon, and green) all had about the same chronolgical popularity, although this still has to be confirmed. The lettering was often done with gold or a gold looking print. Some were done with fancy backs. We do not yet know how this compares to European trends. We mote some similarity, but we are not sure to how closly correlated the mounts were.

Shades

We have seen some green cards. They were all dark green. There were different green shades. Most were so dark as they approched black. Other were a dark, but more clearly a green shade. These appared more toward the turn-of-the 20th century, but these were much less common. We note greenish grey shades in the eaely-20th century..

Chronology

We are not yet sure of the chronology. Cabinet cards first appeared in 1866 and we do not know much about 1860s cards. We think they were mostly done in the 1870s and 1880s, at keast the early and mid-80s. This is confirmed by examples that we have archived so far, although we do not have large numbers of examples and this can not yet be precise about the chronological trends. We note Newton Field Waters in 1873 with a dark green mount. The example here of Ester Jackman from Washington, D.C. was done with gold print in 1881 (figure 1). We note a portrait of Walter Hoskin from Ohio done with a mount done in a lighter green shade, although still dark in 1890. We are not yet sure about the 70s, but so not see very many of the dark green cards after the very early-90s. Light colored cards were very popular in the 1890s, but we see very few green mounts cards and no light green mounts.

Other Dark Mounts

We think all these dark colored cards (blue, brown, burgandy/maroon, and green) all had about the same chronolgical popularity, although this still has to be confirmed. The lettering was often done with gold or a gold looking print. Some were done with fancy backs.

Foreign Mounts

We do not yet know how this compares to European trends. We mote some similarity, but we are not sure to how closly correlated the mounts were.







HBC






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Created: 11:06 AM 4/20/2012
Last updated: 11:06 AM 4/20/2012