Authenticating 19th century baseball cabinet cards

[jcmtiger]

Can you post pictures?

[Joe_G.]

Hello Shaun, welcome.

There are two steps here . . .

1) confirming the cabinet authentic (In your case, I presume 19th albumen print).

2) Correctly identifying the subject matter.

Step 1 can be executed with some confidence, step 2 can be difficult. As Joe Maples requested, share some images and we can collectively suggest how significant the 2nd hurdle would be.

[oldjudge]

The second part of what Joe mentioned is certainly the more difficult part. If the player is from a well known team and is in uniform the process is easier. If it is an early image and not in uniform then identification is problematic. Collectors often see what they want to see and, unless the image has good provenance (like coming from the family of the player), the odds are against the image being of someone famous.

[Detroit58]

I’ll start with a uniformed player. 1900 Cincinnati Reds. Edwin “Ed” Scott. PSA and SGC have seen it. No go. They want proof. Is a uniform and FBI facial recognition techniques enough proof. How about a turn of the century mount on the card? I tried to upload the photo twice. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

[swarmee]

Post the image on a photo sharing website and then use the URL to create an image link. Images uploaded to this site will be too small to properly inspect items like this or see facial features.

[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

The second part of what Joe mentioned is certainly the more difficult part. If the player is from a well known team and is in uniform the process is easier. If it is an early image and not in uniform then identification is problematic. Collectors often see what they want to see and, unless the image has good provenance (like coming from the family of the player), the odds are against the image being of someone famous.

Yup Jay, those cabinets with no uniform can be somebodies relative, not ball player.