[oldjudge]

The current SCP auction includes a John H Ryder cabinet of Cy Young featuring the image of Young that appears in the 1891 Cleveland Spiders team composite baseball schedule display. This dates the photograph being taken prior to the 1891 season. However (big however) can the cabinet be dated to this time? If Ryder took the image then it likely dates to early 1891. If Ryder contracted to use someone else's image then it could have been produced at a later time. The only reason I have some doubts is that the Ed McKean cabinet a few lots later features the image of McKean used in the 1891 Cleveland Spiders team composite baseball schedule display, but it is a Weldon Smith cabinet. While two different photographers could have taken images for the schedule display, the most likely scenario by far is that one photographer took all the images. The question is, which one? How do others feel about this? Am I being too skeptical? BTW, the lot write-up, as I read it, implies, but does not actually state, that this is Young's rookie card.