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Posted By: davidcycleback

The postcards and cabinets are both period. The cabinet cards use real photos that have no dot pattern in the image. The postcards are ink and printing press press prints and have a dot pattern in the images. So one could identify a postcard pasted to a mount.

The T5s were made in a variety of ways, including use mounts of different color and thickness. So variations are to be expected.

I too found it interesting that some cabinets have photos with white borders and some do not, and was struck that the Jackson came in both variations.

It used to be that the postcards were inexpensive, but these days the Cobbs and Mattys are getting pricey so there's no pressing need to try and enhance their value.

In case someone wonders how we know the postcards are period, some were used as postcards and have postmarks from the time. I remember a collector came to me with two blank backed postcards. He wasn't sure if the blank backs were genuine, and mentioned the back of one had a handwritten letter, address and 1910s postmark. This was the first I had ever heard of any of a specific postcard being mailed. The postmark not only showed that his was vintage but that the postcards in general were from the 1910s.

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I guess the only question now is if the guy who spent $180,000 on the T5 Jackson will be taking out his magnifying glass to double check that it isn't a postcard.

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It should be noted that there have been sold some original unmounted T5 photographic prints. I don't know if they were unused or what's the story with those. I supposed there's always the chance for shenanigans with those. Though amongst the unmounted photots I've seen, I've never seen a big star player, much less a Joe Jackson or Ty Cobb. If your T5 Cobb has known to have been around for a number of years, ala sold in a 1999 Lipset auction, you can probably assume there's no issue ... And I know that at least one of the Jacksons was sold in public auction a good number of years ago ... For many years, the T5s were often ignored, somewhat obscure, even amongst vintage collectors. It is only just recently that they've zoomed to the stratosphere in price.