question about a cabinet photo

[bugler1998]

I picked up a nice condition cabinet photo of broadway actress Leslie Chester from a dollar box of cabinet photos from a high priced estate sale this weekend.

I have learned mostly from Michelle what to look for.  I really did not see any cars, bicycles or other interesting subjects in most of the photos.  I picked up a very young child wearing a cap and carrying a stuffed animal plus the Leslie Chester cabinet mainly because I figured she could be somebody as she had a very pretty face.

Sure enough a search of ebay showed several Leslie Chester photos.

The most interesting one was a listing of a Goodwin and Company Old Judge card with the exact same photo.  I know the baseball cards in that Old Judge set are quite valuable.  The 

old Judge card of Leslie was from the 10 card Actors and Actresses subset.

My Cabinet card of Leslie Chester was labeled Falk, 949 Broadway, New York.  Apparently a well known studio of that era.

My question:  Which likely came first? The chicken (the photographers' cabinet   photo) or the egg (The old Judge card)?

I know long ago I saw on an ebay board that somebody had a photo that was identical to a well known tobacco card. 

Can I quit my day job, or are there going to be thousands of the photographers' cabinet cards?

Any help would be appreciated.

[bugler1998]

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[taylor_memorial]

No idea, but my guess is

1) The photograph came before the cabinet card which preceded the tobacco card. Perhaps a bit of a look at her history might illuminate.

2) Don't quit your day job.

[bugler1998]

Taylor:  After today, it may be tough to follow your advice #2.

In discussing the cabinet cards, perhaps I should not assume everybody understands their history and how they are described.

The actress I mentioned is seen on an old judge card.  Everybody knows that Old Judge was a brand of tobacco, but the old judge set which came out in the 1880's is always described as a N172 cabinet card.

Why?  Because an old time collector named Jefferson Burdick wrote the American Card Catalog I believe first published in 1939.  It purported to classify all sports cards issued prior to 1952.

Tobacco cards such as the world famous Honus Wagner T206 card (been called the most expensive card out there) was called a Tobacco Card, as apparently all 20th century cards issued by tobacco companies are described at T cards.  19th century cards issued by tobacco companies are cabinet cards.

I am definitely not an expert in cabinet cards as they have always been way above my budget for the condition I collect.  But the Old Judge cards advertise old judge cigarettes.  They were released in 1888 by Goodwin and Company.  That is fairly certain.  What I do not know is when my Cabinet card of the actress was printed. photographer falk was on 949 Broadway.  A little research shows he was there from 1881 to the early 1890's.  That location is currently occupied by the Flatiron Building.

So my cabinet card cou;d have been printed before or after 1888.  I need more research to see if he changed his design over the years.

[imagine.ink]

Hi Mike, I was away from the BSB for a week or so and just now saw this thread.  I would say your cabinet card of Leslie Chester and the Old Judge card of Leslie Chester were both produced in the same decade, in that cabinet cards came into their own in the 1880s, which is the same decade of the Old Judge series of celebrity cards.

However, the Old Judge cards would have used images already produced by photographers, so your photograph would precede the Old Judge card.  

A website I often use to date photographers' studios is www.langdonroad.com.  Since that link may be automatically deleted by eBay, it is w w w langdonroad dot com. 

You can look up photographers by name or state.  In the case of Falk on Broadway, here is the listing:

FALK 

Falk, photographer, 3 W 33rd, New York, NY (1902) City Directory

Falk (inc), photographer, 14 E 33rd, New York, NY (1906) City Directory

Falk, photographer, 949 Broadway, New York, NY (1884) cabinet image dated 1884 on back; Falk, photographer, 949 Broadway, New York, NY (1890s) cabinet image; Falk, photographer, 949 Broadway, New York, NY (1890s-1910) cabinet image

By this you can see that the earliest documented image by Falk on Broadway was dated 1884 on the back, which tells us he was operating at least by that date in that location. 

(You can see, also, that he later changed his location to 33rd Street.)

Oh, and Taylor, you're right that the "photograph" preceded the cabinet card, but the earliest photos were daguerreotypes, then ambrotypes, then cdvs (carte-de-visites).  The cabinet card (larger card mounts) became the dominant format in the 1880s. 

[imagine.ink]

Also, that cute photo of the little boy in the newsboy cap and holding the stuffed cat is probably from around 1900.  

By that time, the cabinet card photo mounts had "gravitated" to harder, cardboard-style mounts.

The stuffed cat he is holding was manufactured by Arnold Print Works starting in 1892.  It was popular at that time to print detailed lithographed dolls directly on cloth to be sold to home sewers to be made into stuffed toys.   I even found a listing on eBay for the same cat:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Antique-ARNOLD-PRINT-Works-1892-Ithaca-TABBY-STUFFED-CAT-Doll-6-25...

[bugler1998]

Michelle:  Unfortunately the one review of Leslie Chester's performance was not good.  So even though the cabinet card preceded the old judge card, I have no reason to believe it is one of a kind.

However I appreciated you identifying the little boys' cap as a newsboy cap.  That was helpful.  And the identification of the Arnold Print works cat was unbelievable.  While I may hold on to the actress cabinet because of its connection to the Old Judge set, I need to get the cat photo out to a collector who might enjoy it.

I owe you a link to the facebook thread about st. Louis history.  Thank you.

[figtree3]

"So even though the cabinet card preceded the old judge card, I have no reason to believe it is one of a kind."

You're correct. Cabinet photos of actors and actresses were almost never one of a kind. They were often made to publicity shots for the actors,  or to be sold to collectors. There is a history of people collecting the earlier and smaller carte de visite photos of famous people. I assume the practice continued when cabinet card photos came into vogue.

By the way, I found documentation that Falk was in the studio at 949 Broadway at least by 1882. The New York Public Library has digitized a photo he took of the burning of Abbey's Park Theatre in 1882. This theatre was on the other side of the same block where Falk's studio was located, and it has a caption giving the date, time, and address.

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/d87a9c70-4e7d-0132-5c25-58d385a7bbd0