Important c. 1870 CDV photograph of a group of athletes in Nashua, New Hampshire, posing with a football and baseball bats. While CDV images of baseball players are pretty easy to find, it is the presence of an extremely early football at center with these men that takes this to another level, making it one of the earliest known in the world to picture football players and the actual ball in the image. The condition is pretty nice and it is an important piece of American sports history. Note, we have been shown another example of this photo by a collector with a handwritten date of 1883 on the back. We feel the image is earlier than this but it could be correct as football equipment changed very little from the 1870's to the early 1880's. Please keep in mind this could be as late as 1883.

Size: 2.5x4
Designation: CDV
Condition: 4.5/5
Quality: 5/5
Overall Grade: 9.5/10