** photography print type : cabinet card cards photographic finish








Studio Cabinet Card Mounts: Special Photographic Finishes


Figure 1.--This boy was 5 year old Carl Lovett. The portrait was taken October 18, 1893. It was dlone with 'Extra Finish'. We are not sure what that meant.

We notice cabinet cards which indicate that have special kinds of finishes with terms like 'Extra' and 'Superior' finishes. We do not fully understand just what was meant here, but it was a claim to an especially high-quality product. We did not see anything destinctive about these cabinet cards in internet images, but a cabinet card specialist who has archived large numbers of actual cards, does see a difference in these special finish cards. We notice some cabinent cards were identified as "Ivoryettes". They appear to hve been very populzar for time. One especially popular finish type was 'Ivoryette'. These cabinet cards do seem to a have a very distintive look -- what look to a white washed image. We suspect the other special finishes were an attemp to claim qulity without pating an Ivoryette royalty. we have some informztionbout the Ivoortyette psocss. The portrait in these cards had a whiter (ivory) finish than a standard albumen print. It gave a more natural look and some preffered it. Studios like Dana in Pittsburgh and New York City used this process. We are not sure about the chronolohy. We have not yet noted it in the 1880s, but we see it being used in the 1890s and very early 1900s. These different types of finishes mostly appeared in thw 1890s, mostly with whitish mounts. These special finishes seem to be primarily an American feature. We also notice a painters palette and an indication of 'Extra Finish'. We have no idea what this meant. But it seems to relare to mostly 1890s cards. As a result, these finish indications can be used to date the cabinet cards.

Extra Finish

We also notice a painters palette and an indication of 'Extra Finish'. We have no idea what this meant. But it seems to relare to miostly 1890s cards. We note one such card from Duluth, Minnesota in 1893. We are just beginning to determine the precise chronology. Quite a number of American cabinet cards were marked 'Extra Finish'. We do not know what 'Extra Finish' meant. We think it might just be a little adverising hyperbole meant to give an idea of high quality, better than that of other photographic studios. We do not know of any extra steps differing from the stnandard albumen process. Perhaps readers will kmow more about this than we do. We note a collection of these cards, almost enbtirely from the 1890s, but one card from 1887. All have whitish mounts. A cabimet card exper tells us, "While the effect was real, the Extra and Superior were marketing gimmicks of the time. They were no different than business today. These were special papers that when burnished (run through a roller press), a 'shiney' look appeared. Not exactly what we would call glossy, but close. Extra and Superior were just from different companies. Mainly seeing these terms on a card is a good way to date them within a range of years." [Phototree]

Ivoryettes

We notice some cabinent cards were identified as "Ivoryettes". Some had the added description 'Extra Finish'. We do not yet know who develooped and introduced this process. Nor do we know just what the terms meant. As best we can tell, 'Ivoryette' means a whitish look. The portrait in these cards had a whiter (ivory) finish than a standard albumen print. It gave a more natural look and some preffered it. We are not sure if this involved a change in the chemicals used. We do not think it was an entirely different process than the albumen print. We have not yet found a authoritative description of the process. Studios like Dana in Pittsburgh and New York City used this process. We are not sure about the chronolohy. We do have some dated examples. We have not yet noted it in the 1880s, but we see it being used in the 1890s and very early-1900s. The example here, Barnes or Barnet Wolfe, is dated 1893. We note a New York portrait of three brothers is dated 1894. The example on the previous page is dated 1897. It was it was taken in Chicago during 1897. The mount is ivory with rounded corners. Mote how the studio name is impressed which makes it difficult to read. Also note the white furniture. We note wicker furniture in the 1890s and often painted wite around the turn-of-the 20th century. The Ivoryette cards may have been a strictly American process, but all our examples archived so far are American. Our information these Ivoryette cabinet cards are still very limited.

Grayonettes

We see a few cabinet cards marketed at Grayonettes. This appears to be an air brushed print developoed by the Glines Studio in Boston. The gray apparently refers to grayscale, meamning shading range -- the monochromatic shades from black to white. The examples we have found were, howerver done in sepia. So far they date to 1892, about the same timeframe as Ivoryetts and Extra Funish prints. Unlike these these better known finishes, the Grayionettes we have found are not identified on the front, only on the back of the card.

Superior Finish

Quite a number of American cabinet cards were also marked 'Superior Finish'. The cabinet card here is a good example (figure 1). Like 'Extra Finish', we do not know just what 'Superior Finish' meant. Altthough of hese finish systems appeared about the sane time and almot entitely seem in the 1890s. . We think it might just be a little adverising hyperbole meant to give an idea of high quality, better than that of other photographic studios. We do not know of any extra steps differing from the standard albumen process. Perhaps readers will kmow more about this than we do. The only cards with 'Superior Finish' marked are ones we have noted are cards dated to the 1890s. And they also have only whitish mounts. Some of them have an artistlst palette as a kind of logo. We note quite a number of studios using this same logo, auggesting some kind of royalty system. One source suggests that Superior Finish was another burnishing process like Extra Finish. [Phototree]

Sources

Phototree, Gary. Personal communications (September 9, 2019). Gary has a fascinating website about cabinent vards, including a page on Extra Finish.






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Created: 4:19 AM 1/14/2007
Last updated: 11:18 PM 12/2/2021