1888 N173 Glass Slide Negatives

[joshleland]

It might be a stretch to call these definitively used to make the cards
I have seen several of these glass negatives through the years of varying qualities
I remebember the first and largest group was in New England possibly at brimfield in the early 80s
I have this mental image of seeing them in the back of a vehicle
I passed on them but later saw them dispersed in the hobby
None of them ever had pics of the mounts which these do not as well which helps them
I was never convinced they were from the tobacco company although everyone else that owned them always did but the buyers did not respond with price assurity
They always sold for in the low hundreds as novelties rather than in the thousands of dollars which they should have
They could have been used by anyone to print the various media that uitlized these images throughout the years
They also look early 20th century rather than late 19th
I'd like to hear from knowledgable pure photo people like David Cycleback as to their opinions as the date of the negs themselves as my dating is more hunch than definitive but I fear their opinions will also be hunch or gut
Dating glass negs to any certainty is tough for me while vintage prints and non glass negs are a lot easier
In fact I don't recall seeing anything that early in glass but I'm open to being reminded
They are not first generation studio negs based on the various writings like Goodwin & Co. which would have to have the white paint right on the neg to be what we call "camera negs"
I'm not trying to throw water on the auction fire just taking a step back
They could have been used somewhere in the process but like the others I've seen I could never make that definitive jump with certainty
Would I buy or sell them as definitively part of the process, no
Would I buy or sell them as maybes
Maybe
Josh