9th Plate Ambrotype of Seated Man

One of my favourite photos, this 9th plate ambrotype of a handsome young man seated at a table is from the Great Western Portrait Rooms, 70 Bull Street, near Snow Hill, Birmingham, England.

Unknown Photographs

As I'm sure any photo collector can tell you, the majority of photographs available are of either unknown (not identified) sitters or were taken by unknown photographers, or both!  Sadly, millions upon millions of photographs are floating around antique shops and flea markets, and in many cases in family collections just waiting for someone to put a name to them.  The large majority of these will never be identified and many are tossed in the trash by younger generations who come across these unidentified pics after the death of a parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle.  A bigger problem faces us now in this age of digital cameras and SD cards - within a generation or two, there will no longer be photographic prints made, everything will be on memory cards or hard drives.  What happens when technology comes out with new and improved storage mediums and pics are not or cannot be transferred to the new medium?  They haven't the chance of survival that even the oldest of photographs has, because they were never printed.

I find it almost impossible to throw out any photograph, even of the unknown variety, because each one was taken for a reason and meant something to someone.  They are our windows to that particular place and time.  Here are a few examples of some of my unknown photos - maybe you'll recognize someone.

Photographs of Arthur FitzGerald Cochrane (1888-1967)

Many years ago I was given two trunks that were found in the attic of a local house, one full of glass and film negatives and the other full of correspondence.  A large percentage of the negatives are navy related, as Arthur was a cadet in the Royal Navy at the time, and would rise to the rank of Commander.  He was the only child of William "Billy" Cochrane (1858-1929) and Evelyn Lamb (1858-1908), native Britons who were part owners of the Double C cattle ranch in Alberta, Canada, spending their summers in Alberta and winters in Britain.

Most of the negatives are 3 1/2 X 4 1/2 inches, with the largest being 5 X 7 inches.  The film negatives, which are the same size seem to date to 1913 and were taken during a honeymoon trip around Europe by car, but there are navy related film negatives as well.  Of particular interest are pics taken during the construction of the british battleship Dreadnought c1904-05, which I will post below.

The above image was stitched together from three separate negatives to make this stunning composite of the construction work on the Dreadnought.

In this image, you can just make out the name Dreadnought on the bow.

And in this image, we see her from the other side.

Tintypes...

I purchased these tintypes from Jeffrey Kraus - he has so many tempting images!

Civil War Era Images

I recently received 16 carte de visite images with US revenue stamps on the backs from Jeffrey Kraus.  The wonderful thing about these stamps is that they were used between 1864 and 1866, so images with the stamps affixed can be dated to that time period.  Here are a few examples:

                                    

Uknown Photographer - 1864

 

Hennigar & Johnson of Middletown, CT - 1865

J.B. Roberts of Clyde, NY

Young Couple c1850

The latest addition to my dag collection is this wonderful 6th plate of a young couple holding hands for the camera.  Although damaged, this clearly illustrates how easily a daguerreotype can be damaged by simply running your finger over the surface, perhaps to remove dust or tarnish.  The plate is stamped with the "H.P. (standing eagle) 40" hallmark, which I believe could be french (?).  Someone has cleaned the plate in the past, so I did not.  After photographing the plate, I cleaned the glass and resealed it.

UPDATE 17/12/18:  I have since learned that this daguerreotype is of Charles Coolidge (1831-1898) and Susan Sarepta (Ellison) (1833-1917) Johnson of Healdville, VT.  They were married in 1853 and had at least 4 children.  Charles was involved in the Indian Wars and the Civil War.

 

Photo from Jay Janell at https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2017/77/112007334_1489940359.jpg

To Clean or Not To Clean, That Is The Question

In the world of Daguerreotype collecting, the question of whether or not to clean images is a hotly debated topic.  Most top collectors and dealers are against disturbing the image in any way other than cleaning or replacing the glass and resealing the image.  Their reasons for the most part are compelling if the image is of an historic figure or created by an famous daguerreotypist however, what of the millions of nameless images created by unknown daguerreotypists?

In my humble opinion, it all boils down to the individual choice of the collector.  I live on a fixed income, so I cannot purchase the beautifully preserved dags that are display quality and cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.  I have to try to find the best quality I can for the low price-range that I am confined to and that means images that are tarnished but have the potential to be really nice images if they are cleaned.

I like to enjoy my images, and to me that means being able to see them without the distractions of tarnish, etc.  This doesn't mean that I clean all my dags, just the ones that I feel would be improved by cleaning.  I'll post a few Before and After examples and let you be the judge.