Dating Portraits - Card Corners

This is a very general rule, for some photographers used cards with square corners throughout the time CDV's were made. Some individuals cut off the corners, especially when they were square, to make them slide into photo albums easier, but generally these were cut off with a straight diagonal line, rather than rounded.

We have not yet examined the question of whether Cabinet Cards have any significant tendancies in this regard.

Dating:

Darrah suggests that square corners predominated from 1858 to 1871, while rounded corners were generally used from 1871 to 1910, and square corners again became fashionable from 1902 to 1910.

Observations:

This characteristic seems to generally hold true, though as stated there are exceptions. The card thickness and color usually may be used to identify those exceptions.