Bobby Mathews tintype (1888 uniform)

[TNcollect]

First I want to thanks everyone that assisted in the ID of this photograph to Bobby Mathews and to everyone that provided input under my posting titled "Gilbert and Bacon Cabinet Card".

I contacted the guy that I purchased it from and in fact he was the person that acquired many glass plate negatives and numerous prints of baseball players out of Vermont about 18 years ago.

My concerns with the image still center on it being a true view and not a mirror image. Most tintypes are mirror images.

This leaves two possibilities (more?):

1. The image is a copy of an image that was printed in reverse-- a photo of a photo, with corresponding less value. There is also the chance that it is a more modern copy.

2. The photographer used a reversing prism or mirror (not rare but usually not employed by 19th century photographers) to get a true image of the subject.

The quality of image (contrast and sharpness of details) are unusual if this is in fact a copy image.

Comparison to known images of Mathews batting COULD prove that it is a copy of another photograph printed from a glass plate negative.

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Scott