Quote Originally Posted by Chas View Post
Has the picture been 'flopped' or is your grandfather playing 'wrong-handed' deliberately?
Old photos from that era were often taken on emulsified glass plates, that could easily be viewed as flopped. Perhaps that is the case here?

Consider this quote, from a page describing early photography ( http://www.cycleback.com/1800s/earlyphotos.htm )

"As a negative shows lights as darks and darks as lights, a black backing was put behind the image to correct the contrast. The negative's mirror image could not be corrected, so all images including writing are in reverse."