There is no way to concretely tell but Black Mounts were widely used in the 1880's as well (even the EARLY 1880s), but certainly MORE popular in the 1890's. I have attached a scan of an 1883 Wesleyan Football Team photo which is on a gilded black mount to show that they were indeed available and widely used. Once again though I am not arguing at all with the others on here as there are probably 50 black mounts from the 1890's for every one from the 1880's, I personally feel that the way the men are dressed combined with the look of the albumem part of that photograph dates to the 1880's but that is just my opinion and there is no way to tell, I could be wrong just as easily as I could be right but that is just what my gut tells me.
Rhys
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