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Posted By: davidcycleback

It's from the early 1900s. Steve and Rob's dating of 1910s, sounds reasonable to me.

A cabinet card or other mounted photo with an ornate embossed mount, in particular when the embossment is in the shape of a faux frame, usually is from the 1900s. Notice that in the T5 Joe Jackson thread, people were talking the photographic print fitting into the embossed frame.

Unless there's pressing need to know the year (Sox World Series year?, Ty Cobb rookie era year?), the seller of a normal 1900s cabinet card of unknown people and team doesn't have to lose sleep if he doesn't know the year or even the exact decade. The price difference between a generic 1907 cabinet card and 1913 cabinet card is minimal at best. There won't be a T206 card inside if it's from 1909. So, when selling a generic cabinet card on eBay, saying 'early 1900s' or 'circa 1910s' is perfectly acceptable dating. If you post a nice picture in your eBay description, the potential bidders will be able to make their own judgments.

With 1800s cabinets, it's in the seller's best interest to be a bit more exacting in dating, as, all other things equivillent, the earlier the cabinet the more valuable. But even here you will be more likely dating a cabinet to the 1870s or 1860s, rather than 1872 or 1867. And 'circa 1880s' is an acceptable dating.

In fact, on eBay, some sellers of inexpensive non-sport cabinet cards post a picture, call the cabinet 'guaranteed original and antique' and let the viewers make an assesment of age.