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Welcome to Curious Canary.
A collection of the strange, odd, and antique. We specialize in the curation and distribution of unique items and hard-to-find objects from around the world.
☠
Welcome to Curious Canary.
A collection of the strange, odd, and antique. We specialize in the curation and distribution of unique items and hard-to-find objects from around the world.
☠
Widely used during the 1840s and 1850s.
Invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre and introduced worldwide in 1839, the daguerreotype was almost completely superseded by 1860 with new, less expensive processes yielding more readily viewable images. There was a revival of the daguerreotype in the late 20th century by a small number of photographers interested in making artistic use of early photographic processes.
To make the image, a daguerreotypist would polish a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror finish, treat it with fumes that made its surface light-sensitive, expose it in a camera for as long as was judged to be necessary, which could be as little as a few seconds for brightly sunlit subjects or much longer with less intense lighting; make the resulting latent image on it visible by fuming it with mercury vapor; remove its sensitivity to light by liquid chemical treatment, rinse and dry it, then seal the easily marred result behind glass in a protective enclosure.
The image is on a mirror-like silver surface, normally kept under glass, and will appear either positive or negative, depending on the angle at which it is viewed, how it is lit and whether a light or dark background is being reflected in the metal. The darkest areas of the image are simply bare silver; lighter areas have a microscopically fine light-scattering texture. The surface is very delicate, and even the lightest wiping can permanently scuff it. Some tarnish around the edges is normal.
Several types of antique photographs, most often ambrotypes and tintypes, but sometimes even old prints on paper, are very commonly misidentified as daguerreotypes, especially if they are in the small, ornamented cases in which daguerreotypes made in the US and the UK were usually housed. The name "daguerreotype" correctly refers only to one very specific image type and medium, the product of a process that was in wide use only from the early 1840s to the late 1850s.
James Ambrose Cutting patented the ambrotype process in 1854. Ambrotypes were most popular in the mid-1850s to mid-1860s. Cartes de visite and other paper print photographs, easily available in multiple copies, replaced them.
An ambrotype is comprised of an underexposed glass negative placed against a dark background. The dark backing material creates a positive image. Photographers often applied pigments to the surface of the plate to add color, often tinting cheeks and lips red and adding gold highlights to jewelry, buttons, and belt buckles. Ambrotypes were sold in either cases or ornate frames to provide an attractive product and also to protect the negative with a cover glass and brass mat.
from late 1800’s to modern day.
Tintypes, originally known as or ferrotypes or melainotypes, were invented in the 1850s and continued to be produced into the 20th century. The photographic emulsion was applied directly to a thin sheet of iron coated with a dark lacquer or enamel, which produced a unique positive image. Like the ambrotype, tintypes were often hand-colored. Customers purchased cases, frames, or paper envelopes to protect and display their images.
Tintypes and ambrotypes found in cases and frames can be difficult to identify. A magnet will be attracted to the iron support, but if a sheet of metal is used behind an ambrotype, one could be fooled into thinking that the image is a tintype.
Sizes were :
Imperial or Mammoth Plate - Larger than 6.5 x 8.5 inches
Whole Plate - 6.5 x 8.5 inches
Half Plate - 4.25 x 5.5 inches
Quarter Plate - 3.25 x 4.25 inches
Sixth Plate - 2.75 x 3.25 inches
Ninth Plate - 2 x 2.5 inches
Sixteenth Plate - 1.5 x 1.75 inches