Help with 2 19th century photographs

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Posted By: Keith

Hello,

I wanted to pick the brains of the experts on this forum regarding a couple of photographs I recently picked up.

The first photo is a CDV of 2 Doane College of Crete Nebraska athletes. It is standard size for a CDV. I have 2 questions regarding it, 1. Do you think the players are football or baseball players - my thoughts are football. and 2. What time period do you think this dates to? I was thinking mid to late 1880s..?



The second photo is a photo on board of a baseball team from McGrannville NY. Some of the players have a unique piece of fabric on the top of their chest reading McGrannville, and 1 with the word Captain as well. One of the players has a bib style jersey. I am concerned about whether this photograph is original. It has a little too much shine/gloss compared to the other late 19th century photographs that I have. I am going to use a miscroscope tomorrow to compare it to other true originals I have. I have read (Thanks cycleback) that 19th century albumen photographs should have noticeable fibers evident under 50x microscopy. We shall see tomorrow. I am going to also have a local photography expert take a look tomorrow.

My questions for the group are; 1. What time period do you think the players/team dates to? and 2. From the scan shown here, any insight as to whether it could be a repro?

Here is a link to a larger size scan




and closeups of some of the players.



Thanks alot guys,
KJ