Circa 1888 Buck Ewing cabinet photo utilizing a familiar image of Hall of Famer Buck Ewing. The Brooklyn photography studio of Joseph Hall produced a number of different baseball-rellated photographs among which were a group of individual player cabinets featuring members of the 1888-89 New York Giants. Very little is known about these cards though the majority of the known player images were used for the very rare and valuable N338-2 S.F. Hess issue of 1888 (which contains 16 known members of the Giants). The Joseph Hall and S.F. Hess cards are both very rare as are a number of S.F. Hess cabinet photos that have surfaced over the years. This photo of Ewing unlike the Hess and Hall cabinets we are accustomed to seeing has a blank back (the Hess and Hall cabinets have elaborate advertising designs on the reverse) suggesting the possibility that this example may have been a proof or an original photo. Trimmed to 3 3/4" x 5 1/4" the corners exhibit some adhesive residue on both front and back implying that it may have at one point been affixed to some sort of backing. A light crease is visible in the image caption over the word "Buck." The eye appeal of the photo itself is quite strong and clear with excellent image contrast. The S.F. Hess Buck Ewing cards are extremely valuable with examples typically eclipsing $10 000 in the lowest grades when sold at auction with one outlier exception several years ago. Joseph Hall cabinets of Hall of Famers are equally valuable; a grouping of four Hall of Famers sold for more than $30 000 in our auction five years ago. This example is perhaps unique the only cabinet-sized Ewing we have encountered and certainly the only blank-backed example. A rare but curious photo with ties to the popular and valuable N338-2 S.F. Hess and Joseph Hall cabinet issues.