Posted By:
hankronIt is now known that these were cut down recently at a frame or whatever shop. They were originally a multi photo framed display, and Seth had them cut into cabinet-style photos.
When I examined them (I got them in the mail), I didn't know this history. However, I could clearly see that the edges were cut recently. The cuts were not neat die-cuts like an real cabinet card, but were kind of funky cut. Almost as if they were cut with a big paper cutter. The edges were obviously first exposed to the world just recently, as the exposed cardstock was as clean and fresh as a dewy morn. I even remarked specifically about this when I talked on the phone to the person at MastroNet.
At least when I saw them, most any person on the street or a 75 year old neighbor or casual friend or my mailman would have have judged that they were cut recently and not in the 1880s. I'm not exagerating! The edges were so new and un-die cut that some may have even wondered if I had just cut them myself.
This is why, irrelevant to any issue of authenticity, I found it bizarre when an auction house would judge the proofs as to have never been tampered with.