Dating a photo print (Eisenstaedt)

I have a 9" x 11.5" (paper is larger) print of Alfred Eisenstaedt's "Ballerinas in a Dressing Room", or "Ballerinas Backstage, American Ballet Theater in New York", 1937". Prints of this image are not rare, but some older ones are more collectible and valuable than others, and after I doing a (very) little bit of exploration into characteristics of old photographic prints, I thought I would check in here for input.

To my tired old eyes, the most noticeable feature of the print is the crackling/crazing on the surface. I was wondering if that could be a lead on the time frame that it was printed?

I removed it from it's damaged, dirty frame to look for any notations on the back, but it's blank. It has yellowed, which is visible on the paper beyond the image.

If it makes any difference, the print had belonged to a person who had other collectible photographs of significant value.

Note: My phone cam + the light in my home does not yield super accurate colors in photos!

TIA for any input!

 

Idle guess is that the cracks indicate that the print was rolled-up at some point. I don't think it's an indication of age.

If you can find prints in public collections, they might have notes on what to expect in terms of photographic paper.

 

Thank you!

 

Invaluable.com lists many Eisenstaedt prints: https://www.invaluable.com/artist/eisenstaedt-alfred-8iap5qre0k/sold-at-auction-prices/
While you can't see the prices realized without a membership, you can see the descriptions of his photographic technique. He made gelatin silver prints, and it looks like they typically included stamps for his studio and other identifying markings.

I would not expect to see such cracking on a gelatin print, unless it was exposed to serious fluctuations in relative humidity. It may also have been rolled up for a long time, as @moreotherstuff suggests. Is the cracking evenly distributed over the whole image, or is it more noticeable in the darker areas?

Another possibility is that it is a carbon print, which is a different method of reproducing images. It utilizes carbon pigment to form the image (no silver), in a layer of gelatin that hardens in thinner or thicker layers depending on how much light it is exposed to through the negative. "Carbon images will exhibit little to no fading or yellowing. Carbon black is among the most light stable of pigments. Darker areas of the image may develop large cracks, where the gelatin layer is thickest."
https://psap.library.illinois.edu/collection-id-guide/photoprint#silvergelprint

Carbon prints were made up until the 1950s.

 

Thank you for all that great info!

Unfortunately, the framed print was in a garage (no climate control) for 15 years, in a cool, moist coastal region. I have no way of knowing if it was ever rolled up. It was owned by a person who respected photography and had enjoyed printing in his own darkroom in the past.

The crazing only appears on the printed area of the photo. The border is unaffected. It was matted, so that may account for the difference.

There's a lot of yellow (relative to pure white). It extends slightly, but pretty precisely, beyond what appears to be the edge of the printed area.

 

Check out this guy's website:
http://www.cycleback.com/
and particularly this page, items #5 and 16 through 25:
http://www.cycleback.com/photoguide/

He will respond to e-mailed inquiries, although we've mislaid his address for the moment and don't see it any longer posted at his site.

What (if anything) is on the back of the photo might provide important clues.

 

Ooooohhh.... that's gonna be interesting! Thank you

It's entirely blank on the back. No stamps, copyrights, dates, edition numbers - no Velox, Kodak, Agfa, Ilford, and nothing discrete (like a watermark).