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Jay MillerCorrect me if I am wrong, but all we are argueing about now is when these "proofs" were produced. Obviously, the images are genuine. They are Old Judge images and, in most cases, they are not available elsewhere.
Let me expound a possible theory on the genesis of these items. I believe they all are sourced from some fellow in Vermont who was also the source of all the glass plate negatives. Lets say that the only original material he, or his family, had were these negatives. Maybe he had alot of these, alot more than the 44 or so in the discovery of about ten years ago. Lets also say that he liked the images but, as is the case with glass plate negatives, they don't by themselves display well. So somewhere along the line someone decided to print out some images for display. This could have been done in 1890 or 1910 or 1940, who knows, but they were printed from these glass plate negatives. The intent was not to deceive, the intent may have been to just create a means to easily view the images. It was only within the last ten years or so when these images took on serious value that someone in this family decided to market these "proofs". Since Terry Knouse was one of the first people I saw selling these (I purchased a framed piece from him about six or seven years ago) I would love to hear if he can add anything to the discussion.