1860, when as
many as 400 million were sold in a single year. Portraits were the main subjects, but
views of towns and cities were also popular. Queen Victoria was an enthusiast with 36 albums full. Needless to say, cartes of Her Majesty sold like hot cakes, and if
you find you have one, you will be pleased to know that they are worth about £25 today.
Bigger, card-mounted photographs
date from about 1880 and are known as ‘cabinet
pictures’, usually studio portraits against painted backgrounds.
Look up cartes and cabinet pictures on the internet, and
you may seem them called c-d-vs and cbs by collectors. Visit www.eBay.co.uk and
go to the collectables/photographic images sites.
Portraits differ in value
A full-length soldier in uniform
can be worth £25 to a collector of military mementoes. Prices for ‘sporting’
studies - tennis players, golfers, boxers -
and for politicians, theatricals, musicians, are around £20. ‘Occupations’ can be £25: a policeman, a
fireman, a baker or a butcher in his working clothes is worth more than
great-great-grandfather in his best suit.
What’s on the back?
Many cards have decorative backs,
where the photogapher would print name and address. A decorative back can raise value from
an unimpressive 50p to £5. The names of the photographers can add value. Look for Frank Sutcliffe (views of Whitby);
P E Chappuis of Fleet (‘by royal appointment’); G Wilson of Aberdeen (local
views); and another ‘royal’ photographer, John Mayall.
No fortune to be made
 Old
album pictures won’t make anyone a fortune, but they
don’t cost much to collect, either, and it can be fun to try. Market traders may ask
as little as £1 for three. Dealers say they
can pay £35-£50 for a filled album and think themselves lucky if one in fifty of the
photos recoups the cost. Sometimes they strike lucky. If you ever come across a
picture of someone holding a pet, you could be on to a winner. Pictures with animals in them are rare, because few
animals stayed still long enough for those slow-exposure cameras. A lady holding a dog
fetched £100 for one lucky collector. It could
be you.
Previous editions:
Family Treasures -1
For subsequent editions - see the laterlife
interest index
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