Lengendary Lot #69 correction

[drc]

Legendary Auctions Lot #69 1870s Mathew Brady CDV - Sam and Harry Wright is misdated. It's an 1860s, Civil War era CDV. Legendary/SGC dated it as 1870s because A & H.T. Anthony Company was incorporated in 1877, which apparently they thought meant that was when the company started. This incorporation date is correct, but the company was in business for years earlier, including throughout the 1860s, under that name.

I said this via email to Legendary but never heard back.

I considered waiting until after the auction for the benefit of the bidders, but also know the consignor's a nice guy and is due consideration.

Interestingly, this CDV was dated c. 1865 in past actions, which is correct.

[dallen]

Appreciate the feedback. We will make the correction. In the future email me directly dallen@legendaryauctions.com I checked with my staff and we never got your email.

[drc]

Got it. I wasn't sure who to contact, and sent it to a generic email on your website. Clearly, an honest dating error as my dating makes for a more expensive item.

[drc]

On a side note, I'm conservative and strict about what I'd call a trading card and what some consider 'baseball cards' I do not. I don't consider a studio CDV for private ownership to be a trading card, as trading cards are supposed to be commercially available to the general public. Having said that, in my opinion, this CDV would qualify as a trading card. I say this because E & H.T. Company was a big commercial enterprise and made CDVs of famous people and scenes to be sold to the public, and I believe this particular CDV was made for public sale. They made many CDVs of folks like Abe Lincoln and U.S. Grant along with stereoviews for public consumption. They were also one of the biggest commercial distributers of photographic equipment and even published a photography industry trade newsletter. In a business deal with legendary Civil War photographer Mathew Brady, E & H.T. Anthony obtained many original Brady glass negatives which they used for commercial purposes, in particular for publicly sold CDVs of famous or otherwise notable people . If you collect Civil War photos, you will find CDVs of Generals, famous statesmen and Civil War era celebrities (novelists, stage actors, industrialists, etc) with the Anthony/Brady stamp on back. The Wright CDV is one these.

In my opinion, this CDV is more clearly a trading card than the recent the 1865 Brooklyn photo. Though the Brooklyn photo is more clearly a baseball image. There is an obvious cricket motif in the Wright CDV, and I'm sure some will call it a cricket card (though with a future famous baseball player). Though the dueling and somewhat ambiguous father/son cricket/baseball identity gives it a historical depth and richness and represents the origins of baseball and of baseball cards. If baseball card collectors hate ambiguity and only want simple, clean cut answers ('Is it a baseball card?' 'Is it the first ever baseball card'), they should stick with 1978 Topps. I've half-jokingly called earliest baseball cards "baseball card theory."