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Posted By: Hankron 

I like MastroNet, and have already placed some bids, but in some areas they, or whoever writes the catalogs, are consistantly ignorant. About every auction they make certain mistakes, I point out the basic errors, and the next auction they make the exact same mistakes. It's to the point of almost being comical. One of the problems, other than they are errors, is that the general hobby and folks on eBay emulate MastroNet-- which means the same mistakes are repeated.

Most common mistakes made by MastroNet and emulated by others, (but not by anyone reading this).

WIREPHOTO: Though commonly used as a general term, a wire photo is a specific type of news service photograph. The wire photo is only the photograph reproduced by a wirephoto machine and sent through the telephone wires to another wirephoto machine. There is no such thing as a 1910s wirephoto, as the machine hadn't been invented yet. Almost no Pre 1934 photos are wirephotos. If you aren't sure whether or not something is a wirephoto, called it the general term of 'news service photo' or 'press photo.'

This is not just David getting technical, as the original photograph (non wire photo) is by its nature rarer, higher quality and of higher longterm value.

Wirephoto is THE most commonly misused and misunderstood term in the hobby.


CABINET CARD: As with wirephoto, cabinet card is not a general term but a specific sized photograph (4-1/2" by 6-1/2" overall size). Realize that the mounted photograph terms (cabinet card, cdv, etc) were commercial standards applied to specific sized photograph. The same as AA battery or size D men's shoe. As such, it's not correct to say 'big cabinet card' or 'smaller cabinet card.' An Old Judge Cabinet is a cabinet card. If it's bigger or smaller than that, it's something else.

If you don't know whether or not a mounted photograph (paper photo pasted to a cardboard mount) is a CDV or cabinet card or other, simple give its dimensions and call it a 'mounted photograph.'


IMPERIAL CABINET CARD, or IMPERIAL: Again, this is a specific size of photograph (about 7" x 10", though there can be some variations in size. You can get away with calling a 8x10 mounted photo an imperial) and is not a generalized term. MastroNet has an apparent compulsion to apply this term to very large photographs, which is incorrect.

WOOD-ENVRAGING VERSUS ENGRAVING: These are not interchangable terms, as an engraving and a wood-engraving are totally different types of prints. The Harper's prints are wood-engravings but not engravings. You can also call Hapers' prints 'woodcuts', which is a larger area of printing that includes wood-engravings.

REAL PHOTO can only be have an actual photographic image. A printed card or pc or whatever is not real photo.