Blank Cabinet cards…

There’s something about a blank cabinet card that I find quite intriguing. Wether its the loss of potential, a missing story or just material that become excess stock as fashions and technologies changed.

Here are nine dark brown gold trim and seven off white gold trim but stamped with CABINET PORTRAIT with an emblem/badge that says HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE. Which translates roughly to “Shame be to him who thinks evil of it”

This is the motto of the British chivalric Order of the Garter, as well as numerous other organisation including the Military and the Freemasons. I’m not too sure the relevance to photographic card stock?

BankCabinetCardsBankCabinetEmblem

I have some other blanks by photographer  Mrs J. Bell of Torrington that I’ve blogged before. Then I realised that these new blanks are the same card as my favourite card that I blogged here.

It would be tempting to use these blanks for some albumen prints but I think I’d have to source a burnisher first.