Eggman
12-20-2011, 12:32 PM
I believe many or most of us are collectors of the original photographs. I noticed a few things on a recent swing through the Old Dominion.
The most common collectables are the small paper photos of individual soldiers called carte de visites. A dozen years ago or so these were selling in the ten dollar range. During the Civil War era these photos were commonly kept in an album made especially for these specific prints (I purchased such an album full of soldier photos in the mid 70s for $26). It appears the sellers are now cutting up the albums and selling the individual prints in their album pages which provide sort of an original looking frame. These were selling for $170 each.
By the way, these photos were normally taken at least four or eight at a time. If you can find a pair you have an instant stereograph.
The really cool image cases are still out there including the beautiful "union" cases. The "union" cases were one of the first uses of plasitic, the proper term is "thermoplastic." They are a heated mixture sawdust and shellac. All of these thermoplastic cases are "union" whether they have patriotic motifs or not. The "union" refers to the union of sawdust and shellac. They are not gutta purcha. I repeat they are not gutta purcha. Gutta purcha is a sap from Malaysian trees commonly used for such things as buttons and cain heads during the war. Gutta purcha discolors and deteriorates badly over time so examples of it are rare.. it was not used in image cases. By the way, cheap wood and paper image cases are not "union" cases.
You will still find tintypes, and especially ambrotypes, identified as daguerrotypes. Daguerreotypes were the first practical photographs invented by Louis Daguerre in 1839. By the way, France bought the patent rights from Daguerre and then gave the process FREE to the rest of the world. For all practical purposes Daguerre's process was obsolete by the 1850s. By then other processes had taken over, specifically tintypes and ambrotypes (incidentally, a dageuerreotype took five to twenty minutes of exposure time). You will often see ambrotypes especially called daguerreotypes. You can tell the difference.
Now, how do you tell the difference. First a tintype was an image recorded on tin. The image was recorded on the surface was a negative image, so the photographer whould apply an undercoat of black Japan varnish to change it to a positive. Often the varnish was not appied properly and the tintype will begin pealing. Tintypes are the most common of cased images (cheapest). You can look at a tintype from any angle and the image will not disappear or change (caveat - there is a glass plate cover that will sometimes give viewing problems because of relections) .
Ambrotypes were recorded on glass. Again a negative image was recorded on the surface and then a black varnish applied to the back of the glass to change it into a positive. Sometimes when you look at an ambroype from certain angles the image will switch from positive to negative. It will not diappear altogether like a ...
Daguerroype. Daguerrotypes were recorded on ultra smooth silver coated copper plates. Unless viewed at certain angles, a daguerrotype image will utterly disappear. It will not change from positive to negative. Often though, you will see color highlights remaining that itinerant artists applied, all of whom were likely dipossesed of their miniature portiature jobs by the new photographic mediums, and subsequently went to work painting highlights on the photographs (see all the many gold button splotches on soldier portraits).
Hope this is some help in your photo hunts. Good luck in determining exactly what you bought.
The most common collectables are the small paper photos of individual soldiers called carte de visites. A dozen years ago or so these were selling in the ten dollar range. During the Civil War era these photos were commonly kept in an album made especially for these specific prints (I purchased such an album full of soldier photos in the mid 70s for $26). It appears the sellers are now cutting up the albums and selling the individual prints in their album pages which provide sort of an original looking frame. These were selling for $170 each.
By the way, these photos were normally taken at least four or eight at a time. If you can find a pair you have an instant stereograph.
The really cool image cases are still out there including the beautiful "union" cases. The "union" cases were one of the first uses of plasitic, the proper term is "thermoplastic." They are a heated mixture sawdust and shellac. All of these thermoplastic cases are "union" whether they have patriotic motifs or not. The "union" refers to the union of sawdust and shellac. They are not gutta purcha. I repeat they are not gutta purcha. Gutta purcha is a sap from Malaysian trees commonly used for such things as buttons and cain heads during the war. Gutta purcha discolors and deteriorates badly over time so examples of it are rare.. it was not used in image cases. By the way, cheap wood and paper image cases are not "union" cases.
You will still find tintypes, and especially ambrotypes, identified as daguerrotypes. Daguerreotypes were the first practical photographs invented by Louis Daguerre in 1839. By the way, France bought the patent rights from Daguerre and then gave the process FREE to the rest of the world. For all practical purposes Daguerre's process was obsolete by the 1850s. By then other processes had taken over, specifically tintypes and ambrotypes (incidentally, a dageuerreotype took five to twenty minutes of exposure time). You will often see ambrotypes especially called daguerreotypes. You can tell the difference.
Now, how do you tell the difference. First a tintype was an image recorded on tin. The image was recorded on the surface was a negative image, so the photographer whould apply an undercoat of black Japan varnish to change it to a positive. Often the varnish was not appied properly and the tintype will begin pealing. Tintypes are the most common of cased images (cheapest). You can look at a tintype from any angle and the image will not disappear or change (caveat - there is a glass plate cover that will sometimes give viewing problems because of relections) .
Ambrotypes were recorded on glass. Again a negative image was recorded on the surface and then a black varnish applied to the back of the glass to change it into a positive. Sometimes when you look at an ambroype from certain angles the image will switch from positive to negative. It will not diappear altogether like a ...
Daguerroype. Daguerrotypes were recorded on ultra smooth silver coated copper plates. Unless viewed at certain angles, a daguerrotype image will utterly disappear. It will not change from positive to negative. Often though, you will see color highlights remaining that itinerant artists applied, all of whom were likely dipossesed of their miniature portiature jobs by the new photographic mediums, and subsequently went to work painting highlights on the photographs (see all the many gold button splotches on soldier portraits).
Hope this is some help in your photo hunts. Good luck in determining exactly what you bought.