CDV or Cabinet, what is the difference?
 

I noticed the term CDV used for what appears to be the same as a cabinet. What is the difference?

Will let more experienced collectors discuss the nuances but in general terms I think it's size and date.

"Bingo!!!"

Mr. Cycleback's Read is to the point!

http://www.cycleback.com/photoguide/mounted.htm

A CDV is a smaller albumen photograph usually 2.5 x 4 inches . Cabinet photographs are larger albumen photographs and were placed in cabinets and shelves hence the name . They are often confused for each other .

In spirit they are really the same thing- albumen photographs mounted on a stiff cardboard backing. But CdV's generally appeared earlier and were always smaller. Both are well represented in the field of baseball photography, and both were typically saved by many of their original owners. CdV's were at their peak popularity in the 1860's and early 1870's, while cabinets were most often found in the late 1880's and early 1890's. And there were overlap years when both were commonly found.

Short summary is they are the same things except in size. CDVs are small and cabinets are bigger. Other than the size, the basically look the same. As Barry notes they have somewhat different histories (CDVs came first, cabinet cards lasted later).

Denny - thanks for the cycleback link. Very informative!

A bit of extra info, and a very minor correction.

The tax stamps, which originally were specific to particular uses starting around October 1, 1862. Very quickly this was realized as being too difficult, and any of the stamps could be used for any tax.

The cancelling was supposed to be done by writing the users name and the date on the stamp, usually it's just initials. Because of the volume of photographs many photographers used hand stamped cancels. So even is the photographer isn't identified on the mount they can be identified from the cancel. It's not usually conclusive on a particular photo since they also usually cancelled them in advance leaving the cancel only on the stamp. Unfortunate since a stamp can be added and sometimes it's hard to tell if it was there originally. On the plus side, some handstamps include the date, and that will get the date of the photo reasonably close depending on how often the photographer cancelled his stamps and how busy they were.

Here's a nice link to a collectors site showing a number of photographers cancels.
http://www.revenue-collector.com/cgi...otographer.cgi

The tiny correction is that blue stamps were available throughout the time the photo tax was charged. Here's a blue one from 1865 from the same collection.
http://www.revenue-collector.com/pages/1438_.html


Steve B

"Always my Pleasure..."

I have been an avid fan of David's Site for some time NoW,
My Key iS To Keep oN LearniN'!!!

Thanks so much everyone, "I got a real good education on these" (been watching too much Leave it to Beaver). Now to warm up my pocket book for some. I notice there is a NY team pre 1900 and as a Yankee collector I am wondering if there was any pre1900 team with a direct link to the Highlanders/Yankees. Sorry if the question is old and worn out.

As far as I know(and that isn't much : -)... the Pre 1900 team was the Metropolitan's! The Highlander/Yankee's started iN, I believe 1903...

No question is old and worn!! They are all good. I promise there will always be someone that learns something from these threads no matter if they are redundant or not. I couldn't believe the size of this cdv when I received it in the mail. It's tiny compared to a cabinet card. It's the only cdv I own so me showing it will always be redundant, but oh well, it's apropos to the thread. It is circa 1869 according to the photographer mark... The players are teeny weeny when this is viewed in person :)..