Cataloguing photographer Charles Eisenmann’s various and sundry cardboard mounts– both fronts and backs of Cabinet Cards and Carte De Visites– has been a pet (sideshow nerd) project of mine for many years. Knowing the mounts and their dates of usage may eventually prove useful to other collectors and historians in dating images.
Because the present collection does not offer a wide enough variety of examples used throughout Eisenmann 30-plus year career, I am soliciting help from other owners/collectors of Eisenmann Carte De Visites and Cabinet Cards. If you have dated Eisenmann photos, or if you have a mount which is different than the ones listed below, please email us using the contact form.
Also, certain mounts may have been reprinted and used over a wide variety of dates. Likewise, some mounts may have been used for a while, abandoned, and then again used for a time again. Finally, Eisenmann probably used mounts interchangeably from a large reserve of different styles.
Below is a selection with approximate dates, and exact dates if recorded on the actual photo.
I’ve also ranked reliability of these dates between 1 and 10, which is a subjective criteria once you reach below a ranking of ‘8’.
Rankings and their explanations:
10: If the signature of a performer is present along with an written date on the same hand, then I rank that date reliability a ’10’. Another ranking of ’10’ would be if the date is actually printed on the card, which did not happen very often. The only other instance of a ’10’ I’d allow is if a certain performer or group of performers only appeared for one year, but the card is not marked with a date. This must be confirmed by a route card, a blurb or advertisement in The New York Clipper, a mainstream contemporary newspaper, or a “reliable” book which cites a primary source. Most sideshow books throw out dates and don’t cite sources, and these are dealt with below.
9: A ‘9’ would be if a seemingly contemporary hand recorded the date, i.e. “I saw this fat lady at the dime museum June 11, 1886.”
8: An ‘8’ is a card which is dated on the back or front, but it is not clear who wrote the date, but the writing appears to be contemporary with the card. Another ‘8’ rank can be had by a secondary source, i.e. a book or other published source which quotes a date found on an example of the same photo and mount.
7: A ‘7’ is dated by another exact mount or back mark which is dated on another photo of a different performer with either a ‘9’ or ’10’ ranking.
6: A ‘6’ is dated by another very similar mount or back mark which is dated on another photo of a different performer at either ‘9’ or ’10’.
