Albumen Magnification
Albumen prints are based on the light sensitivity of silver chloride. These prints are almost always toned with gold after printing.
Under low magnification of 10x, the image appears continuous in tone.
Under magnification of 30x, the image appears continuous in tone and paper fibers may become visible.
Under magnification of 50x, the image appears continuous in tone and paper fibers are visible.
This is a key identifying feature. Albumen prints have a two-layer structure consisting of a thin paper support and an albumen binder.
This cross section shows the thin paper support.
Under low to medium magnification, paper fibers are easy to detect in albumen prints. (50x magnification).
With magnification and raking light the paper fibers are visible under the albumen binder. The paper fibers will be more or less clear depending on the thickness of the albumen layer.
As albumen ages, and expands and contracts in various atmospheres, it tends to crack.
Cracking is often visible under medium magnification with raking light (30x magnification).
Micro-cracking is visible under high magnification (200x magnification).