eBay Tuesday: Nancy Buxton Cab Card

The seller of this week's pick for a New London item on eBay gladly agreed to be profiled for this site and said he'd include any additional information I dug up with the listing. So of course this is the first item which has pretty much stumped me.

The item is a Victorian era cab card, estimated to be from sometime between 1893 to 1896, and it is offered by hc-quality of Oregon. It portrays a woman wife a "puff sleeved striped dress" who signs her name as Nancy Buxton, and it was taken by a photographer by the name of Scholfield in New London.

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Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot of information on Ms. Buxton. And while I admit I'm not expert with genealogy sites, I've been unable to uncover anything in searches through some of those as well as the general news archives. Who was Nancy Buxton? Someone who mostly kept to herself, it seems.

Even the medium in which she appears is a little mysterious. Though several other eBay sellers refer to such identification photographs as "cab cards," there is little reference to this medium elsewhere. The definition has survived into present day, but for quite a different purpose. According to the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, cab cards are a form of identification for truckers, including ones for the International Fuel Tax Agreement license.

Information on the photographer is easier to track down. In fact, the ever-helpful G.W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport has a full collection and biography related to him. Everett A. Scholfield first set up a portrait studio in Rhode Island after the Civil War, then carried the business to several different locations in Connecticut. He eventually expanded to New London, locating a studio first at 59 State Street and then at 6 Bank Street from 1901 to 1912.

Do you have any more information on this piece? Feel free to let us know in the comments.

The cab card is starting out at $9 with free shipping. The seller says it has some light scuffs, but otherwise is in good condition and has a nice contrast. The auction ends at about 9:18 p.m. on Thursday.

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