Agree, your 1880s cabinets are good for comparison, though the mounts on 1870s cabinets may be thinner. They were made with the same albumen photographic process.
If it's a reprint, the images are more than likely digital prints and will have a multi-color dot pattern under strong magnification. Real photo images were made by chemical reaction under light and so have no printed pattern. A dot pattern is a givewaway that they're fake.
As mentioned, the photographic prints were on very thin paper pasted to the mounts-- and not printed directly onto them. Same as with the cabinets you have (use them as reference) The real photographic prints would have a different gloss than the mount, and the 1800s images often have a gloss to them.
Use a blacklight if you have one. Will identify many modern reprints right away, as blacklight identifies much modern paper and cardstock.
Last edited by drcy; 01-11-2018 at 09:02 PM.
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