Long before Snapchat and Instagram, cartes de visite (“CDVs”) were the latest trend in image-sharing social media. And, at the time, they were considered just as high tech as Snapchat and Instagram are today. Because of the popularity of cartes de visite in the 1860s, they remain a popular collectors item today.

How do you know if your carte-de-visite?

Use these clues to identify a carte de visiteSize. Cartes were small paper prints—about 3.5 x 2 inches pasted onto standard sized cardboard mounts, about 4 x 2.5 inches. Mount. If you have several examples of cartes you can compare, the relative thickness of the cardboard mount can indicate a rough date. Shape.27 Jun 2013

What was the purpose of carte-de-visite?

Uses of Cartes de Visite during the Civil War CDVs were used for a variety of purposes throughout the Civil War. As Holmes suggested, they were most frequently exchanged by family and friends as a means of cementing social bonds and remembering absent loved ones.

What is a carte de visite in photography?

In photography, a carte-de-visite is a type of portrait — also meant to be exchanged — that first appeared during the second half of the 19th century. Before that, photographers produced daguerreotypes and direct positives on collodion (ambrotypes) to create portraits.