{"product_id":"antique-cabinet-card-of-dog-smoking-a-pipe-wisconsin","title":"Antique Cabinet Card of Dog Smoking a Pipe | Wisconsin","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere we have a cabinet card that has no business being this funny a hundred and thirty-some years after the fact: five young men in bowler hats, most of them working a cigarette for the camera like they’ve got somewhere better to be, gathered around a liver and white pointer perched on a stool with an actual pipe clenched in its jaw. Somebody in a small Wisconsin photo studio decided the joke needed a punchline with four legs, and the dog, to its enormous credit, held the pose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe mount identifies the photographer as Hutchens, working out of Wonewoc, a small town in Juneau County, Wisconsin. I found a Hutchens family established in Wonewoc by the early 1900s and nothing more solid than that, so I’m not going to hang a first name on the man behind the camera without better evidence. The bowler hats, sack coats, and casual cigarettes point to somewhere in the 1890s to mid 1900s range, the tail end of the cabinet card era before real photo postcards took over as the format of choice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat sells this piece is the staging. This isn’t a stiff studio portrait that happens to include a dog. Every person in the frame is in on the bit, and the dog is the actual center of the composition, propped up on its own little platform so it reads clearly even from the back row. Vernacular photography this deliberately staged and this well preserved is a rare treasure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe old cabinet card comes out of a serious photo collector’s estate. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe unusual cabinet card measures about 6 1\/2\" tall, and 4 1\/4\" wide. The antique photograph has patina throughout, including some discoloration across the top.   The image itself is sharp with strong contrast, the humor and detail in every face still reads clearly, and there is light scattered surface spotting consistent with over a century of handling. The mount shows some edge and corner wear, with a bit more softening at one corner, and the reverse carries general toning along with an old inventory number in pencil that looks like it came from a prior collection rather than anything original to the photograph. Please see all pics as they are part of the description. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI ship FedEx to street addresses in the continental USA only (no PO boxes). The rare cabinet card will be shipping housed in a hard sleeve. Free shipping on the unusual 19th century photograph.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomebody thought a dog with a pipe was the funniest thing they could put on film. They were right.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mad Van Antiques","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43504611721293,"sku":null,"price":350.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0116\/3637\/5610\/files\/IMG_0472.jpg?v=1787541517","url":"https:\/\/madvanantiques.com\/products\/antique-cabinet-card-of-dog-smoking-a-pipe-wisconsin","provider":"Mad Van Antiques","version":"1.0","type":"link"}