The Double Line
Usually characterized as an 1860s feature (though we found several instances from the early 1870s), the double line around the print area of a CDV is most often gilt, but may be colored ink. Here is what Darrah had to say about this feature in his Cartes de Visite book:
By mid 1861 a variety of mounts were available commercially. The plain white card was soon decorated by a border, commonly of single or double gilt lines. Sometimes these lines form a design in the corners. Occasionally these lines were printed in red, blue, green, purple, magenta or black — named in order of frequence. This type of card mount was used throughout the 1860s, but faced considerable competition from other types of mounts after 1866.
Our study differs from Darrah’s impressions on several points, plus we see a distinct peak in popularity that is of some interest. As usual, we also look at how frequent the feature is in relation to cards not having this feature.