1899 Boston Beaneater Cabinets

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Posted By: Hankron

One thing I'd like to point out about 19th century cabinet-style photographs, is that, while only one quality, the size of the photograph does relate to the photograph's value. All other qualities even (subject, condition, age, etc), the larger the photograph the more valuable. This is due to the scarcity, display valuable and because, originally, large photos were more difficult and expensive to make and reserved for special occasions.

So, when you look at 1880s-1910s photographs, start with the base size of 4-1/2" x 6-1/2". This is cabinet card and was the standard (average) size of a mounted photo during these days-- and also was the standard size of Chickerings photos. If you look at the Beaneaters photos, each measures, without me refering to the site to refresh my memory, about 8x10." While this isn't humongous, it is substantially larger than a cabinet card and should be considered special value-wise in that way.

If you ever come across a very large and finished 19th century player or team photo, say 13" x 14" or bigger, you can assume that the photograph was made for someone official, whether it be the player, team or, say, to display in the school or clubhouse. Any very large 19th century baseball photo, even if of unknown players, is automatically desirable and pricey as examples 13" x 14" or larger rare. For albumen print photos (type of photo used until the ending of the 19th century), the largest I've ever seen were a bit over 20" x 20".