Wouldn't degradation in resolution be a tell tale sign of a fake? If when putting side by side two images and noticing clear differences in resolution, I'm curious what could account for that other than the photos were not printed at the same time and from the same negative.
I remember some time ago considering buying a rare sealed record album. The first few "experts" I showed it to thought it was good. I then went to a person highly regarded as very knowledgeable in this area. He compared the album to an original he had and one could instantly tell the one I had was a fake. There were clear differences in the focus of the printed letters, as well as subtle differences in color tone.
In the case of the Atlantics CdV, the only known original I am aware of is located at the Library of Congress. Its resolution is noticeably sharper than the one sold by Saco Auctions. It also might have had different cropping. The best spin I can think to put on this is that the CdV was a period pirate CdV (a period copy printed from a different negative than the original), which on occasion turn up. When they do, the ones I have seen are not printed on mounts from the studio that produced the original, but instead on generic CdV mounts with no studio or copyright info on the verso. The most prominent baseball example I can think of is the 1867 Harvard BBC which is depicted in Mark Rucker's CdV book. As I recall, it had a blank verso. Some years later another turned up, this one having the typical studio and copyright info on the verso. The image is also known in yearbook size, as the 1867 Harvard yearbook contains a book-sized image of the team. So likely the pirate CdV was struck from the yearbook image.
If the Atlantic CdV was a period pirate, that would be relevant info to a prospective purchaser because it would not a first generation CdV. While it would still be valuable, IMO its value would be significantly less than if it had been a first generation CdV. What makes me believe it is not this (aside from the lack of provenance) is that it appears remounted, and the mount it is on is from the studio that is known to have taken the image. That appears to be a clear attempt to deceive, in contrast to pirate Cdvs that are printed on generic mounts with no studio or copyright designations.
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