Everyone thinks the word "vintage" means old. Well, not quite. What it means is "of it's time" or a period of origin. So something "vintage" could be from last week, as long as it is indicated "Vintage 2010" like a cheap wine. So when searching the term on Ebay, you should consider it to mean the same thing "natural" does on food labels...nothing. There isn't any reason to put "natural" on the label unless it ISN'T really natural. When is the last time you ate "unnatural" food? My guess is the last time you ate.
Anyway, here is a vintage Carte de Visite size Salesman Sample which is EXTRA vintage! CDV is French for "visiting card" more or less, and came to replace the tintype, more or less, though both photographic mediums flourished at the same time. You'll also find both hidden in baskets at the flea market...the tintypes are the ones with rust, the CDVs are the ones on little cards, and no one wants either unless they show an early baseball player, or an unfortunate slave.
So anyway here is an example of a composite salesman sample CDV by an enterprising fellow selling OTHER CDVs of what passed for sexy dames around 1890. "Allow me to present my card...of ZAFTIG HOT BABES!" Some 19th century Larry Flynt would hand these out, take down orders, and deliver the spicy goods a few days later. One could take out a loupe and get a rise, I guess, but probably better to spring a quarter for 6 of your choosing full-sized. Then each would be like 2" x 3" and they would be as big as women on your smart phone, easy to shuffle (and hide from the wife.) You can "click to engorge" but "French postcards" didn't get good until about 30 years later, I am afraid. Funny, but they are all built the way woman are today. So when did "sexy" come to mean "skinny?" Topic for another post.
CDV Salesman Sample for early risque photographs, circa 1890. "Six for 25 Cents" Collection Jim Linderman
".....unless they show an early baseball player, or an unfortunate slave." Great line and post!
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