Many early baseball cards are not printing press and ink prints
but actual photographs. These actual photograph cards are commonly
referred to as 'real photo.' A majority of 1800s baseball cards
are real photo. Though only a small number of 20th century cards
are real photo, this includes a number of popular issues.
The following is a shortlist of real photo issues.
1800s: These are the cards with the sepia realistic
images. N172 and N173 Old Judges, Gypsy Queen, SF Hess, Peck
& Snider CDVs and trade cards, Four Base Hits, the Kalamazoo
Bats issues, G & B Gum, Yum Yum Tobacco, Newsboy Cabinets.
(Though they resemble real photo cards, with realistic images,
the 1890s Just So and N300 Mayo are not real photo.)
1900s: T200 Fatima Team, Fatima Premium, T222 Fatima,
T5 Pinkerton Cabinet Cards.
Distinguishing a photograph from a mechanical print: "Dots
Versus No Dots"
Not all realistic looking pictures are photographs, and the
collector should be able to tell the difference between photographs
and photomechanical prints (realistic pictures made by a printing
press). The images in this book, for example, are not actual
photographs but computer prints. The pictures in a newspaper
or magazine, or on most 20th century baseball cards are photomechanical
reproductions of photographs.
While a mechanical print, like a lithograph or photoengraving,
is made by a printing press pressing ink against paper or cardstock,
a photograph is made by the subtle interaction of light with
chemicals. A photographic image is made by a chemical process.
A handheld microscope will allow one to easily distinguish
between a photograph and a non-photograph. Close examination
of a photograph will reveal great subtly in tones and shades.
The tones can be so subtle that they seem as if you can't get
the microscope into focus. Under the microscope, the photomechanical
print will be made up of tiny dots or similar ink patterns.
Most reprints of real photo cards have the halftone dot
pattern
The vast majority of reprints of known real photo cards are
quickly identified due to the dot pattern in the player's image.
If you see a dot pattern on an Old Judge or Four Base Hits, you
know it's a reprint. A beginner with a strong magnifying glass
should have no trouble identifying the average Old Judge reprint.
As counterfeits and reprints occasionally (though scarcely)
exist in real photo form, the following is a more in depth look
at the processes used to make early real photo cards.
* * * *
1800s real photo baseball cards : albumen prints
1800s real photo baseball cards were made with the albumen photographic
processes. They are often called albumen photographs or albumen
prints. In photography, a photographic image on a piece of paper
is commonly called a print, even though it wasn't made with a
printing press.
While there were other types of photographs in the 1800s,
the albumen print was by far the most common form of paper photograph
in the United States and around the world. Nearly all post-1850s
paper photographs, baseball cards or otherwise, are albumen.
Even non-collectors associate horse-and-buggy pictures with the
soft, sentimental tones that were produced by the albumen process.
Except for modernized versions made by a few advanced art
photographers, the albumen process is as obsolete as the Model
T. It hasn't been used commercially for about a century, having
long ago been replaced by more advanced technology.
During its 19th century heyday, the albumen process was used
by a wide range of photographers and for a wide range of photos.
It was used by famous photographers and unknown small town studios.
It was used to make the priceless photo hung today in a Paris
or New York museum and the Joseph Hall cabinet card sold by MastroNet,
official portraits of Queen Victoria and many of the photos in
your family collection. This means that, by studying the cabinet
card of your great great uncle or that $2 cabinet you bought
at a flea market, you are also studying the qualities of the
Old Judge Cabinet.
The albumen process was time-consuming and difficult in the
extreme compared to modern photography. Most practitioners were
well-trained professionals with a working knowledge of chemistry.
Except for a few technically gifted and wealthy hobbyists, there
were no amateur photographers like today.
The process required a unique kind of chemically treated paper
that was mostly imported from France and Germany. Photography
is a chemical process and the photographer couldn't use any old
typing or writing paper he got at the local dime store. Only
a few factories in the world made albumen paper. This is lucky
for us today, because this albumen paper has distinct qualities
that are usually straightforward to identify.
One of the distinct qualities of 1800s albumen prints is that
they are on super thin paper. The paper was so thin and delicate
that the prints had to be mounted. This means that the photographic
print was pasted to a heavy backing. Usually the backing is a
sheet of cardboard, but albumen prints can also be found mounted
in or on books, programs and other items. All 1800s albumen baseball
cards have a cardboard backing. With the N172 Old Judges, the
albumen print is the same size as the backing. With the N173
Old Judge and other cabinets cards the print is pasted to a larger
backing.
The albumen images are usually well aged. This includes the
common sepia or yellowish tone, often along with fading of the
image details in areas and foxing (brownish redish age spots).
Particularly due to different storage, the severity and type
of aging will vary. For collectors, albumen photos are best stored
away from light, excessive heat and humidity. An example of excessive
heat is storing them next to a radiator. When originally made,
albumen images were not sepia but closer to black and white.
You will sometimes find examples that were well stored and retain
these colors. Albumen images are often glossy.
Many albumen images have very fine web-like pattern of cracking.
This is often seen up close with the naked eye. Sometimes a normal
magnifying glass or loupe is needed. The cracking, which does
not appear on all albumen prints, can be throughout the entire
image or in isolated areas.
One of the keys to authenticating albumen prints is examining
the image area under a microscope. Unlike with the later gelatin
silver prints or Kodak photos, the paper fibers can be seen on
the albumen print. It takes some practice, but with experience
it's not difficult to see the paper fibers with a microscope
of 50 or more power. When judging the authenticity of an expensive
albumen photograph, for myself or others, I always take my trusty
microscope and look for paper fibers in the image.
Though uncommon, it is possible to find 1880s albumen prints
that are pink (by far the most common), blue, green, yellow and
other bright colors. The process to add dye to the albumen paper
was invented at this time. The pink old judges are commonly underdeveloped
(too light).
Some albumen prints have a distinct effect called 'silvering.'
Silvering is when it appears as if the silver has come to surface
of the image. Sort of like a silver patina. If it exists, it
is more noticeable at the edges and in the dark areas of the
image, and when viewed at a specific angle to the light. If you
change the angle of the photo to a light source, the silvering
will be come stronger and darker, sometimes disappearing. It
can range in intensity. Sometimes it is only revealed under close
examination when holding the photo nearing a 180 degree to a
light. Sometimes it is obvious in an online auction image. Importantly
for collectors, silvering is an aging process. In simple words,
a photograph with natural silvering wasn't made yesterday.
Foxing, age spots and overall yellowing common
to albumen prints. Foxing is often heavier than this, and can
appear on the cardboard mount as well.
1900s Real Photo Baseball Cards : Gelatin
Silver
1914 Pinkerton Cabinet Card of Shoeless
Joe Jackson, with a gelatin silver print affixed to a larger
cardboard mount
Early 1900s real photo baseball cards were gelatin silver
photographs, commonly called gelatin silver prints.
What albumen prints were to 19th century photographs, gelatin
silver prints were to early 20th century photographs. Gelatin
silver was by far the most common form of black and white photograph
from the late 1890s to recent years. If you own a T200 Fatima
team card, a 1930s movie still photo or a 1960s wirephoto, you
own a gelatin silver photograph. If you go to an exhibit of original
photographs by famous early 20th century photographers, many
to most will likely be gelatin silver prints. Those 1940s black
and white snapshots in your family albums are more than likely
gelatin silver.
While gelatin silver photographs were commonly used for many
years, early examples have distinct qualities that help the collector
to identify them as vintage.
Many gelatin silver photographs have stark black and white
images, distinct to the sepia tones of an albumen print. However,
many vintage gelatin silver images are found with sepia tones,
sometimes closely resembling 1800s albumen prints. This sepia
tinge is most often caused by the toning of the paper, but was
sometimes intentionally created by the photographer.
Though not as thin as albumen paper, early gelatin silver
paper is thin. The earlier the thinner. The modern 'double weight'
photo paper was not popularly introduced until after the scope
of this guide. An example of double weight paper is the typical
modern autographed 8x10 photo.
Most vintage gelatin silver paper (as seen on the back of
the photo) will be off white and often with toning and foxing.
Counter to intuition, however, the earliest examples, say 1902
or 1904, typically has bright white paper, though still with
occasional foxing, soiling and other discoloration. The earliest
paper was handmade without wood pulp. Wood pulp, introduced to
later photo paper production, is what makes later photos and
newspapers turn brown. The earliest handmade gelatin silver paper
was naturally white and, since there was no wood pulp, did not
tone with age. This means that you should not be distressed if
the paper on your 1903 Honus Wagner photo is so much brighter
than on your 1920s photo cards.
Many early gelatin silver prints are mounted in similar fashion
to albumen prints. Most are unmounted (plain paper photograph
with no cardboard backing). The T5 Pinkerton Cabinets are mounted
just like an N173 Old Judge or Newsboy Cabinet. The T200 and
T222 are just a photographic print on thin paper with no cardboard
backing.
Unlike albumen prints, the paper fibers in the gelatin silver
print cannot be seen under a microscope. The gelatin silver photos
have a thin layer of gelatin on the image surface. The gelatin
was used to hold the needed photographic chemicals to the paper.
While transparent, the gelatin obscures the paper fibers from
view. When viewing under a microscope, you may see the uneven
surface of the gelatin. With experience this surface is easily
distinguished from paper fibers.
Silvering as the best sign of authenticity
Many, though not all, early 1900s real photo cards have some
degree of silvering. Silvering is less likely to appear on photos
with underexposed images. Genuine silvering is one of the surest
signs of authenticty. If that $5,000 Fatima Premium that you
just bought has silvering, and otherwise looks the way a Fatima
Premium should, you can be confident that your purchase is authentic.
Silvering: Surrounding the border of this framed early
1900s gelatin silver photo is silvering. It appears here as a
distinct fogging or frosting at the edges.
Ray-O-Prints and Other Self-Developing Photos
Ray O Print of Babe Ruth
Around 1930 M.P.& Co issued several photo-kit issues for
kids. The best known set was the Ray-O-Print kit that included
of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mary Pickford, Herbert Hoover, and
other celebrities. Each kit consisted of an envelope containing
a photographic negative of one celebrity and a piece of photographic
paper about the size of a trading card. This allowed a kid to
make one photo card.
It is possible in modern times to make multiple copies of
from the original negative by getting more photopaper. It is
safest for the collector to buy a Ray-O-Print photograph when
it is accompanied by the original kit. This not only makes authenticity
sense, but the accompanying kit raises the value and desirability
of the photo card. The entire kit with photo is not often seen
on the market.
Black light tests will identify most modern photographic paper.
The presence of silvering will prove that a photo card is old,
even when there is no accompanying kit.
There were other Pre-WWII self developing photo cards. Again,
the presence of silvering will assure the collector that the
card is genuine, even if there is no kit.
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