1900's 25" x 30" Keene (NH) White Sox Cabinet Photo Value

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Posted By: mike

Hi All,I have had this for quite a while and was thinking of selling it and was curious as to opinions of its value. It is the largest cabinet photo I have ever seen measuring 25"x 30" housed in a 36"x42" frame. The Keene White Sox from what I have learned where a pretty famous traveling all star team in the early 1900's. I had received quite a bit of information from the Cheshire County Historical society including many clippings from them playing colored teams from the era and the House Of David team . In the background of this photo in the dugout there is a player wearing a New york Giants uniform. The player in the front sitting has a glove with no web. The Giants uniform looks like the 1904 uniform from Marc Okkonen book on uniforms. Any thoughts or opinions as to value would be appreciated. Thanks, Mike

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Posted By: barrysloate

First off, this is not a cabinet photo but more accurately a mammoth plate.

Usually teams of this kind will only sell for a few hundred dollars, but because of the size of the image and the beautiful stadium view I would say quite a bit more, maybe $400-600. Not clear about how the player in the dugout may or may not affect the value.

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Posted By: mike

Barry, Thanks for the correct terminology. I had always thought the thick cardboard photos were cabinet photos and thought a mammoth plate was made of glass. Not really sure where imperial photos fit in the mix definition wise. I thought it was quite a rare size early baseball team photo with a good history and thought the value would be higher on it. Mike

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Posted By: barrysloate

An imperial would be at least twice the size of a standard cabinet photo, perhaps even bigger, but not this big. There are no precise parameters of what constitutes each size, but the one you have is huge.

Edited to add the value could be higher. These photos are subjective, and while the team pictured is not significant, the image is exceptionally nice. Someone certainly might offer more for it.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I agree, that's about as large as an early 1900s baseball photo gets. The size alone makes it rare. Plus, the ornate frame is unique. No question it would make quite the display piece on the wall.

For 1800s-early 1900s photos, 20x20 inches (sometimes a bit smaller) and above are often referred to as mammoth. As this photo is even larger than 20x20 inches, it can definitely be labeled as mammoth. As the name implies, mammoth is applied to photos that were really, really big for the day. Mammoth is really just an official nickname.

With old photos, if the collector uses the wrong term (cabinet card, imperial, mammoth) but gives the dimensions, the knowledgeable buyer will know know what he is talking about.

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Posted By: mike

Thanks for the expert clarifications on the photo type and input. I am for sure not an expert but felt the size of the frame itself would be quite rare and the size of the photo even rarer. I do not remember seeing any for auction this big. Just to share some of the teams they played against looking at the copies of the newspaper clippings they sent me were the Brooklyn Royal Giants, Chappie Johnson's Colored Stars, "Big Chief" Eastman's All Stars, Boston Tigers "Colored Champions of New England" Any clue as to why there would be a Giants player in the dugout. The field they are at does not seem like a major league park. Mike

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Your assessment of the size and rarity was correct. I think this is a case where the eventual owner might want to repaint the frame.

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Posted By: mike

I know it is extremely heavy and very well built with lots of detail. mike