Photographic Cabinet Card Mounts: Styles


Figure 1.--At the turn of the 20th century we see a number new styles for cabinebt cards. This portrait was taken in 1901. The boys are Raymond and Earl Davis from Elgin, Nebraska.

Cabinet cards for about two decades were very similar. This is in large measure because they were meant to fit into ablums which had slots to hild them. Thus they were all about the same size. Cabinet cards were normally about 4 1/4 X 6 1/2 inches. The image took up most of the area, buta kind of bar at the bottom was reserved for the name of the photographer and the city and state on American cards. Sometimes the address was added. These cards had mattes and letering un various styles and colors. Not only was the size standards, but the area for the image was standard so that it appered correctly in the albums. Just before the turn of the 20th century we begin to see a new style of cabinet cards they were more varied in size and done on stiffer boards. They tended to be slightly larger, usually the card, not the image. We see cards 5-1/8 x 7-1/4 inches. Some were smaller, like the one here (figure 1). Note the tectured mounting. And the relative dimensions were more varied. We see only a few colors, often white/off white and an olive or greyish green. The photographer is no longer so prominently displayed as on the old style cards. We see the old style after the tun of the century and the new style sust before the turn of the century. We are not sure what prompted the change in style.

Classic Styles

Cabinet cards for about two decades were very similar. This is in large measure because they were meant to fit into ablums which had slots to hild them. Thus they were all about the same size. Cabinet cards were normally about 4 1/4 X 6 1/2 inches. The image took up most of the area, but a kind of bar at the bottom was reserved for the name of the photographer and the city and state on American cards. The inclusion of the sate makes it simple to identify most Ameeican cabinent cards. Sometimes the address was added. This was, however, more common with German cabinent cards. These cards had mattes and letering in various styles and colors. Not only was the size standards, but the area for the image was standard so that it appered correctly in the albums.

New Styles

Just before the turn of the 20th century we begin to see new styles of cabinet cards they were more varied in size and style and done on stiffer boards. They tended to be slightly larger, usually the card, not the image. We see cards 5-1/8 x 7-1/4 inches. Some were smaller. Note the tectured mounting. And the relative dimensions were more varied. We see only a few colors, often white/off white and an olive or greyish green. The photographer is no longer so prominently displayed as on the old style cards. Some did not have the studio logo at all. Others had the studio name embossed. The city and state became less common. We see the old style after the turn of the century and the new style just before the turn of the century. After the turn-of- the century we fewer of the classic style cabinent cards and more of the new styles. We also begin to see other formats just as postcard back prints and prints in paper frames. We are not sure what prompted the change in style.








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Created: 6:31 AM 4/4/2009
Last updated: 9:20 PM 4/27/2009