Honus Wagner cabinet

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Posted By: davidcycleback

My guess is it isn't genuine.

There are too many things wrong with it. Including most 1900s cabinets aren't this color and usually have some sort of embossment. The stamp on back is similar to an 1800s stamp (crayon portraits are old time). There are famous folks cabinets with faux 'compliments of' signatures like this, but they are usually entirely on the mount, not straddling the photo and mount. The folder is vintage, but has nothing to do with the photo, as it's from a different studio. The photo wouldn't be from 1928 as the seller describes. Not only did they not make cabinets in 1928, but Wagner would have been 54 in 1928 and he retired in 1917. The image has a cross hatching background which is unusual. Why would Wagner, a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh, be posing in a Pirates uniform in Kingston NY? It's not impossible for Wagner to have a photo taken in Kingston NY (I had a Cap Anson street clothes cabinet shot in Syracuse), but wouldn't it seem more likely for it to be taken in Pennsylvania or a big MLB city like Chicago or Washington DC?

Genuine photos can have an out of the ordinary, maybe even strange quality, maybe even two. This one, and the description, has a whole bunch of incongruities.