Figure 1.--This is a cabinet card portrait of George Stanton Jr. in 1896. We thought he looks to be about 1-2 years old, but a reader tells us that he is at least 2 years old. He is wearing a lacy white dress. White or ivory colors were popular for cabinet card mounts in the 1890s. This was an Ivoryette which refers to the color of the albumen print, not the mount. The mount is one on the classic size and style. The studio information is at the bottom and details both the name of the studio and location. Notice the embossed raised lettering.

The initial albumen print format was the CDV. The CDV ws rapidly replaced by the larger cabinet card format in America. The popularity of CDVs persisted more in Europe. The formats and mount styles used for cabinet cards were very similar during 19th century (1866-1900). We refer to these as the classic cabinet card format. We see very few cabinet cards that were not the standard 4¼ by 6½ inch format. There were larger cards which could be ordered from the studio. The vast majority, however, were he standard 4¼ by 6½ inch size. This was the same standard size common in Europe. Like CDVs the sizes were standard, in part because albums were made to store and display them. And thus this is the size that printing companies made and sold the mounts. While the nount size was very standard, the mount styles and colors varied and can be used to help date the portraits. Most but not all were studio portraits. And they were taken in very large numbers, much larger than in Europe. Unlike Europe, we almost never see the term cabinet card or cabinet portrait used on these American cards. The American cabinet cards are generally easy to identify because along with the name of the studio, the city and state is almost always indicated with a few exceptions. Here we see a good example from 1890 on the previous page.

Chronology (1866-1900)

These classic cabinet cards appeared (1866). We are not sure who came up with the idea or in what cojuntry, but they very rapidly became the dominnt type of studio commerical product, rapidly replacing the CDV. Many of the first cabinet card monts looked like large CDV mounts, but they soon adoped a standard look. This would persist for iver three dedacdes. Americans loved the larger images. This continued until the turn-of-the 20th century when the Kosak Brownie created made the family abpshot easily accessable. Studios came up with new mount styles to stimulate consumer interes. These rapidly replaced the classic styles. As a result, we see relatively few classic style mounts after the turn-of-the century. But there were somed, they did not immediiately disappear. We still see some in the 1900s decade. The style of the studio logos at the bottom changed. Someof the bew studio logis may have appeared in thevery late 1890s befire the turn-of-the century, most appeared atter in the 1900s decade. The backs were also destinctive, often using the new colors popular after the turn of the century.

Backs

CDV Look

Colors

While the mount size was very standard, the mount styles and colors varied and can be used to help date the portraits. We have addressed this issue in the general cabinet card section, but here want to focus only on American cabinet cards. Here we want to present information both by color and decade. Quite a few different shades were used. Color was an innovation fo the cabinet cards. These colored mounts were not very popular for CDV. We note dark colors were popular in the 1870s and 80s. Maroon/brown shades were particularly popular in early cabinet cards (1870s-80s). There were many other colors. We also notice whitish shades, but the colores mounts seem the most popular. We do not notice light colors. The light mounts ere virtually all whitish hades. Whitish and off-white shades dominated later (1890s). The 1890 cabinet card on the previous page is a good example. The 1896 cabinet card here is a kind of ivory shade (figure 1).

Decoration

Classic 19th century cabinet cards were not highly decorated. Here we are talking about the entire front, except for the bottom area with the studio information. Early cabinet cards has framing lines like CDVs. These were common in the 1860s and 70s. Not all early cabinet cards had these lines, but many did. As with CDVs there were variations in these framing lines. They were often absent by the 1880s. They never totally disappeared, but we do not see them much after the 1870s. The fact that they did not totally disappear mans that they can not be used to definitively date undated cards. These were colored lines. We see some embossed lines in the 1890s. You can see an example of embossed lines here in 1896 (figure 1). We notice some highly decorated cards using lines and elaborate decorative cornrs in the 1890s. They were not very common, but we see afew examples. For the most part elaborate decoration was reserved for the back of these cards.

Lettering

The studio information at the bottom of the vertical oriented cabinet card was doner in lettering that varied in color and font. We gemerally see standard fonts, but we notevwhat might bevcalled 'Old West' lettering in the 1870s. We also motice some fancy fonts, but can not yet date them. There was also embossed and impressed lettering. These variations differed over time and this can be uded to date the many undated cards. We need to work out the chrinolgy of these many variations. We have not tet fiubd enough dated images to goninto mych dertailWe know a little about the variations, but are just behinning to understand the various chronogies in detail. The embossed lettering here, for example, first appeared in the 1890s (figure 1). The same is true of impressed lettering. It is not untl the 1890s that we see either. And we suddenly see silver lettering at the same time.

Edging

We notice fancy edging on some cabinet cards. This included both narrow scroling and various patterns. We have orimarily seen this element in the 1890s classic cards. We have just begun to assess this. But all of the exanples we hve found so far come from the 1890s. It seems to be an element introduced just as the ne style mounts bgn to ppear at the urn-of-the 20th century. It was mostly utilized on the white and whitish shades like cream mounts. At least we have not found dark mounts with this edging. This would manke sence as it the scroll/patern edging would how up best on light-colored mounts.

Gilding

Special Finishes

We notice cabinet cards which indicate that theyhave special kinds of finishes with terms like 'Superior' and 'Extra' finish. We have no idea what these terms meant other to claim an especially high-quality product. We do not see anything destinctive about these cabinet cards. One popular finish type was 'Ivoryette'. These cabinet cards do seem to a hve a distintive look -- what look to a white washed image. These different types of finishes mostly appeared in thw 1890s, mostly with whitish mounts. These special finishes seem to be primarily an American feature.

Pinking/Serrations

We note pinking / serrated edging in cabinet cards during the 1880s and 90s. We are not sure whoise idea this pinking was or whether it was an American or European innovation. As there were a limited number of companies making the card stock, the serrated cards quickly spread. We began archiving these cards in the general cabinet card section, but almost all of the examples we have found are American. There is no need to repicate this again. We may eventually move that section here and reserve the general section for mostly European cabinet card. So far the examples we have found date from 1888-95. These are the serrated edge cards with sommoth corners. This may not yet be precise chronological range, but we believe it to be very close to it,

Sizes

We see very few cabinet cards that were not the standard 4¼ by 6½ inch format. There were larger cards which could be ordered from the studio. The vast majority, however, were he standard 4¼ by 6½ inch size. This was the same standard size common in Europe. Like CDVs the sizes were standard, in part because albums were made to store and display them. And thus this is the size that printing companies made and sold the mounts. The new style cards appearing at the turn-of-the century appeared in many different sizes. The classic mounts were, however, highly standardized.

Bottom Studio Information

Most but not all cabinet cards were studio portraits. And the style of the studio information at the bottom of the cards can also be helpul in dating the card. Unlike Europe, we almost never see the term cabinet card or cabinet portrait used on these American cards. The American cabinet cards are generally easy to identify because along with the name of the studio, the city and state is almost always indicated with a few exceptions. we also see raised and embossed lettering in the 1890s. The card here is a good example (figure 1). Not all cards had this studio information, but the vast majority did. The arrngement and style of this information can help date the portraits. Thius was usually the name of the studio at the left, some sort of logo in the center, nd the address and city at the right. The arrangment here is a good example, but impressed prunting only appeared in the 1890s. At the turn of the century variations appeared, but through most of the 19th century (1860s-90s), this was the standard arrangement. Sometimes the year was added, but this was not common. There were cards with slightly different arrangements or no information at the bottom at all.

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Created: 12:49 AM 6/14/2013
Last updated: 1:39 AM 9/1/2021