Can this be saved?

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

I have this photo of my Grandmother and my Mother. It is about 100 years old and in bad shape. Does anyone know if this can be restored? Also, some info on the actual picture would be appreciated as to how it was made. It appears to be a photo that was mounted over some type of metal. Thanks for any help!

Linda

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Comments (4)

jeaninwa
10 years ago
I have no idea, but it's a cool pic
mgpb
10 years ago
William might not be able to help you, but he might be able to direct you to someone who can.

http://collodion-artist.com/contact/william-dunniway/
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jemdandy
9 years ago
Look at this photo carefully. You said that it appeared to be mounted on metal. Its possible that it was actually made on metal. look at the back of the photo. Is it metal, maybe blackened a bit. Some rust may show or not. Is the size about 2.5 by 3.5 inches or smaller? What I suspect what you have is a daguerreotype or tin type. Look up details about this type of photo. Does it match yours?

Tintypes were not made of tin but were iron or steel sheet stock, hence can rust if not proected. The emulsion was coated directly on the metal sheet, exposed, and developed. There was no "negative". The photo is the image captured at the back of the camera. It has one telling feature: The finished photo is reversed left to right. In this type of photo, married women will appear to have her wedding ring on her right hand and right-handed operations will appear left handed. Studio photographers were careful not to include any printed material in the photo because the print would be reversed. For many years, people thought that Billy the Kid was left handed because a photo of him shows his pistol on his left with apparently his left hand near the pistol. Finally someone realized they were looking at a daguerreotype and the image was reversed. He was right handed!

Your photo has a typical mounting of that time. There is an overlay (bezel) with an oval cutout. The overlay has some color in its decoration; The photo is all gray scale with no color. Another decoration was a copper bezel around the perimeter of the photo. It would have been made from a thin copper sheet with decorative designs punched out of the copper.

There is a serious piece of damage stretching across the photo and I can not tell what I am looking at. Is it a tear or is it the broken edge of glass?

Look up the time period when daguerreotypes were in use. Does it match the age of your photo? I believe that daguerreotypes were popular between 1845 to 1855 and then declined rapidly as improved photo products came to market.

If you have what I think you have, you'll need the services of a conservator to help your photo. One solution might be to remove the mask with the oval cutout and make a duplicate with a good copy camera. Tears and seams can be photo shopped, but do not expect perfection.
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Whitelacey
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for your help! I didn't expect any replies after all of this time. I don't think it is a daguerruotype. I have a nominal knowledge of them and I am fairly certain it is not. The size of the actual photo is a bit too big and the entire picture is one piece; it is not a cutout. I can't tell what the material is. It is so fragile I am afraid to handle it but it does not feel like paper. The tear is actually fairly recent. Someone handled it roughly when my mom's house was being cleaned out. It is not glass; it is the material of the photo. There is no glass. The photo does not look like it has been colored-cheeks, lips, etc. My mother was about a year old here. She would be 100 years this year so the date would be about 1918. It was probably taken in Waterbury, Connecticut where she was born. There are no marks on it as to photographer or location.

I am not familiar with tin types so some research into that may be helpful. There is no rust or blackening that I can see.

Interestingly, many subjects in old masters paintings are left-handed which apparently was just noticed fairly recently. There is on-going research as to whether there was some 'trickery' in painting these pictures. I know the photo of Billy the Kid you mentioned. It's thought to be the only existing photo of him but I also saw a documentary on another photo thought to be him. Interesting stuff.

So... where would I find a conservator???

Thanks again,

Linda

Can this be saved?

Comments (4)

jeaninwa

mgpb

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jemdandy

Whitelacey
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Can this be saved?

Comments (4)

jeaninwa

mgpb

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jemdandy

WhitelaceyOriginal Author

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GET HELP

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Whitelacey
Original Author