Figure 1.- An ivory-colored card was a portrait of Griff Prather Knapp wearing a Fauntleroy suit in 1891

We note quite a few ivory-colored mounts in America during the 1890s. It seems to have been a popular color for mounts. We are not yet sure about the precise chrnology. We do not know where they first appeared. We believe they may have been used in the 1880s, esopecially the late-80s, but we cannot yet confirm this. We are not yet sure about the 1880s, but they certainly were not nearly as common. The ivory mounts seem to have been especially common throughout the 1890s. We have found quite a number dated in this decade. We believe ivory was also used after the turn of the 20th century but then the cabinent card format rapidly declined in popularity so the 1890s was the primary time we see ivory-colored mounts. An ivory-colored card was a portrait of Griff Prather Knapp wearing a Fauntleroy suit in 1891 (figure 1). We note an unidentified portrait from Rochester, New York in 1894 with gold printing (figure 1). The boy wears a sailor suit. On the previous page. we see an 1897 card done in what looks like an ivory color with embossed printing.

The 1880s

We are not yet sure about the precise chrnology of ivory or off-white mounts. We do not know where they first appeared or first became popular. We believe they may have been used to some extent in the 1880s, esopecially the late-80s, but we cannot yet confirm this. We are not yet sure about the 1880s, but they do not seem to be very common. The examples we have found come from the late-80s. We note an example of James Caldwell in Tennesseee during 1888. Darker colored mounts in several colors which seem to have been more commn in the 80s, but we do a few examples. Here are examples are still limitedm but we believe that thivory mounts were most commion during decade in the late-80s. This seems to be the general pattern in America, we have less information about Europe. Cabinet cards were not as common in Europe where DDVs were still common in the 80s.

The 1890s

We note quite a few ivory-colored mounts in America during the 1890s. It seems to have been an especially popular color for mounts. We don't see actual white mounts, but instead off-white colors like ivory. The ivory mounts seem to have been common throughout the 1890s. We have found quite a number dated in this decade. An ivory-colored card was a portrait of Griff Prather Knapp wearing a Fauntleroy suit in 1891 (figure 1). We note an unidentified portrait from Rochester, New York in 1894 with gold printing (figure 1). The boy wears a sailor suit. On the previous page. we see an 1897 card done in what looks like an ivory color with embossed printing.

The 1900s

We believe ivory was also used after the turn of the 20th century, but then the cabinent card format rapidly declined in popularity so the 1890s--at least the readitional styled cabinent cards. Thus the the primary time we see ivory-colored mounts ws the 90s. We see cabinent cards with different styled mounts, but these were not done in ivory. .

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Created: 8:13 PM 5/14/2008
Last updated: 9:56 AM 10/7/2012