Figure 1.-- This German family cabinet card portrait.was taken for Christmas in 1903. Grey was popular color for mounts in both the 1890s and 1900s. The studio here was Hermann Tietz in Hamburg. On the back we learn that the studio was part of Waarenhaus Hermann Tietz (the Hermann Tietz Department Store). Tietz was a famous Hamburg department store, kind of a German Macy's. Like several German and American department stores, it was owned by a Jewish merchant family. It would be targeted by the NAZIs after Hitler seized power.

We continue to see large numbers of German cabinet cards in the early-20th century. Many of the German cabinet cards we have found are from the 1900s. Grey mounts seem especially popular. We see thm done with both white or silver print and dark print. We also ee these in the 1890s. As in America, we see major changes in cabinet card mounts around the turn of the 20th century. We are have just begun to asess these changes in mount styles. After the turn of the 20th century sizes became more varied. Wesee some more narrow mounts than in th 1890s. This is a sty;e we only see after the turn-of-the century. We note both smaller (Often more narrow) and lrger sizes. Those two decades seem the period that the format was most popular. The cabinet card format declined sharply in popularity during the 1910s, esprcially after the start of World War I. We also begin to see silver-nitrate portraits in other formats such as post cards and portraits with paper frames. Cabinet cards were primarily done as alnumen prints, but in Germany we see some silver nitrate prints. We still see some cabinet portaits in the 1920s and 30s, but done with silver nitrate prints. The cabinet and CDV formts were traditionally done with albumen prunts. When silver nitrate printing developed we generally see these to formats disappearing. In Germany, however, we see a few cabinet cards done with silver nitrate prints. The last German cabinet card portrait we have found done with a silver nitrate print is dated 1941 and can be sen on the prevous page. This was the latest cabinet card we have found in any country.

Created: 7:41 AM 6/21/2012
Last updated: 4:45 AM 5/9/2015