Interested in what you guys think of this Tim Murnane Cabinet
 

Hello guys,

I was watching this Tim Murnane cabinet that recently ended on eBay. I was really interested in it being that if it is from the 1870s like SGC identifies it as, then it is a cabinet of a professional player during his professional career. However, I didn't pull the trigger on it because I just couldn't be sure that the cabinet is correctly identified as 1870's. According to baseball-reference, Murnane would have been in his early-late 20's throughout the 1870's. I'm not doubting it is Murnane, just the date. The seller pictured a scan of Murnane in his Athletics uniform at the same time this cabinet was supposed to have been taken. Murnane looks older to me in his street clothes, which made me think this cabinet could be more like an 1890s cabinet, which would make it outside of his playing career. What do you guys think?

link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Looks 1870s to me.

The card is actually a CDV not a cabinet, which makes a big difference as far as dating it. CDV's were popular in the 1860's and 1870's but very few were produced after 1880. Cabinet cards were much more prevalent in the 1880's, 1890's and early 1900's.

Thats not a Cabinet but a CDV. CDV's are older than Cabinet Cards.
I think, 1860'/70's would be about right for a CDV.
I'm no expert but haven't seen any cdv's from the 1890's. Not saying they don't exist, just can't recall seeing one.
Maybe Barry will weigh in on this.

I can't recall seeing any CdV's from the 1890's either, they pretty much were gone before 1880. This photo does look properly identified as Murnane, but I can't tell the size. I remember it being offered a while ago and if Phil says it's a CdV, then that's what it is. The image is beautiful.

Good grief, guys - that is not Murnane. By now we should all know that an old SCG ID stamp is pretty meaningless (they are much more careful now). So you have a guy in a suit that is holding some kind of a cap. All he shares with Murnane is curly hair.

Murnane had a distinctly turned up nose - this guy does not.

Murnane had a short distance from upper lip to nose (short philtrum) - this guy's is much longer. Really not even close. (and yeah - the ears are different)

Packs - don't bid on it.

This is good - I needed an item for the next "auction watch" segment of my newsletter.

----Murnane ---------------------not Murnane

Mark- the CdV and the 1874 cabinet look like dead ringers to me. I'll have to look at them again.

Barry - stop looking at the faces as a whole (to me they don't look alike - but that is not the point). Just look at the distance from the upper lip to the bottom of the nose.

Also note that the real Murnane has a turned up nose (that is also evident in other images of him), very unlike the guy in the suit.

The ears are also different - but I appreciate that given the quality of the images I posted - it may be hard to see.

I agree it helps to see them side by side. I don't feel as good about them now.

I was making no comment on the ID of the person in the photo...the CDV is clearly from the 1870s time period.

Sorry Dan - I retract my statement "Good grief, guys" and change it to just "Good grief".

I was the underbidder. Whew!

I am glad I didn't bid on this. The only reason I thought the date was misidentified was because I just couldn't understand how one man could look so different in two photos that were supposed to be from the same time. That's why I thought that CDV had to have come later, at least 10 years. Thanks for all the info.