Carte de Visite
Albumen-print portraits on small card mounts — the calling-card photo of the Civil War era.
Antique CDV Brackbill Young Boy In Civil War Era Military Uniform Concord PA
Antique CDV Gross Cute Baby In Wicker Carriage Lace Parasol Horton Kansas
Antique Ghost CDV Streit Cute Baby In Dress Double Exposure Milwaukee Wisconsin
Antique CDV Gorgeous Lady Miss Helen Josephine Mansfield Stage Actress
Antique CDV W.g. Kuijer & Zonen Cute Young Child In Dress With Doll Amsterdam UK
Antique CDV E.C. Dinturff Cute Dark Spaniel Dog Sitting Syracuse New York
Antique CDV Young Indian/African American Boy With White Man in Suit Tophat
Antique CDV G.W. Tomlinson General Oliver Otis Howard Civil War Uniform Portrait
Antique CDV Civil War Union General George B. McClellan in Military Uniform
Antique CDV Bearded Man General Ulysses S. Grant Civil War Military Uniform
Antique CDV Circa 1890s Lagaoy Cute Girl In Dress Lifting Weights Harrisville RI
Antique CDV Circa 1860s Disgruntled Blotted Face Family In Victorian Dress
CDV 1860s Unterberger Bearded Man Wearing Hat Innsbruck Austria Hand-Tinted
Antique CDV C. 1870s Penny Varnishers Two Men In Aprons Smoking Huntly Scotland
Antique CDV Circa 1860s Memorial Statue Lyman P. Foster New Orleans Louisiana
Antique CDV Circa 1860s Horatio Seymour & Frank Blair Presidential Candidates
Antique CDV Circa 1870s Sommer & Behles Roman Amphitheatre Naples Italy
Antique CDV Circa 1860s Samuel Rothwell Large Family Group Douglas Isle Of Man
Antique CDV Circa 1860s Ethnic African American? Lady In Striped Dress Unmarked
Antique CDV Circa 1860s President Ulysses S. Grant Civil War General
Antique CDV Circa 1880s Alpine Mountain Homes Landscape Graf Carl Thun
Antique CDV Circa 1900s George Koch Counterfiting Police Detective Portrait
Antique CDV Circa 1860s Occupational Man Smoking Pipe Paper Hat Drinking
Antique CDV Circa 1870s B.O. Pickle Traveling Salesman Medical Minnesota Mass.
The carte de visite (CDV) is a small albumen photograph mounted on a stiff card the size of a calling card. First proposed by Louis Dodero in 1851 and patented in France by André Disdéri in 1854, CDVs became a worldwide craze after Disdéri photographed Emperor Napoleon III in 1859 — and stayed in production into the 1920s, collected and pasted into family albums by the millions.
HistoryOrigin & era
CDVs are produced from a glass-plate negative printed onto thin albumen paper, then trimmed and pasted to a card mount. Studios printed them by the dozen; the same sitter could order several copies of the same exposure to hand out. The format was largely displaced by the larger cabinet card from the 1880s onward, though CDV-sized prints continued to be made by smaller studios and itinerant photographers into the 1920s.
IdentificationHow to spot a CDV
- Card mount roughly 2½ × 4 inches.
- Albumen print — slight surface gloss, often warm brown or sepia tones.
- Studio imprint usually on the back (photographer + city).
- Square-cornered mounts are earlier (c. 1860s); rounded corners and decorated backs come in later.
- Tax revenue stamps on the back date it to 1864–1866 (U.S. Civil War tax).
CDV sizes
CDVs are largely standardized — the mount size barely varies — but the photo on the mount and the mount stock evolved over time.
| Format | Inches | Millimeters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard CDV mount | 2½ × 4 in | 64 × 100 mm | Universal mount size from the 1860s on. |
| Albumen print on mount | ≈ 2⅛ × 3½ in | ≈ 54 × 89 mm | Photo trimmed to fit the mount with a small border. |
| Victoria (mini-CDV) | 3¼ × 5 in | 83 × 127 mm | Brief 1870s variant — slightly larger than standard. |
Common questions
What is a CDV photograph?
A carte de visite (CDV) is a small albumen photograph mounted on a card the size of a calling card — roughly 2½ × 4 inches. The format was first proposed by Louis Dodero in 1851 and patented in France by André Disdéri in 1854. CDVs were the dominant portrait format from the early 1860s through the 1870s and continued to be made into the 1920s.
How can I tell if a CDV is from the Civil War era?
A revenue tax stamp on the back dates a CDV to between August 1864 and August 1866 — the only window when the U.S. taxed photographs. Square corners, plain mounts, and two-line photographer imprints also point to the 1860s; rounded corners and elaborate decorated backs are 1870s and later.
How much is an antique CDV worth?
Common 1870s studio portraits typically run $5–$25, while Civil War soldier images, identified subjects, occupational portraits, and outdoor scenes can run from $75 into the thousands. Condition, identification, and historical interest of the sitter drive value far more than age alone.
Are CDVs and cabinet cards the same thing?
No — they share the albumen process but cabinet cards are larger (about 4¼ × 6½ inches on heavier card stock) and came into vogue in the late 1860s. CDVs and cabinet cards coexisted from roughly 1866 into the 1890s before cabinets took over the standard portrait market.
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