What type of late-1800s photo print is this mounted on cardboard?
Asked 8/12/2020
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I found some very old family portraits that appear to date to around 1880 based on notes written on the back. One is about 10 cm (4 in) tall and looks like a thin image layer mounted or glued onto fairly thick cardboard. It almost looks like a drawing, although it could also be a photograph of a drawing. Another portrait of her husband is definitely photographic and has the photographer’s logo and address on the back.
Would this be a daguerreotype or some other early photographic process? How can I tell what kind of print it is when it appears to be mounted on card?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
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A Daguerreotype would be an image viewable by differential reflection on a silvered copper plate; it would surely not resemble film pasted on cardboard.
The upper image is most likely a print. If actually made in 1880, it might have been from a collodion negative, or a dry plate, or a Kodak paper negative (from the first consumer camera) or just possibly then-new celluloid film. Most silver image prints of the day were albumen process, and tended to a very warm tone, but gelatin was just getting started (originated in the early 1870s) for printing, as well as plates and film, so it might well be a gelatin print -- and as suggested quite possibly a photograph of a professionally drawn portrait (from the days when that was actually cheaper than a photograph, or before 1840 when there were no photographs yet).
Originally by user89902. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user89902
5y ago
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It’s probably not a daguerreotype. Daguerreotypes are made on polished silvered copper plates and are viewed by reflected light; they do not look like thin film or paper mounted on cardboard.
From your description, this is most likely a photographic print mounted on card. If it really dates from around 1880, the print could have been made from a collodion negative, a dry plate negative, an early paper negative, or possibly early celluloid film. Many prints from that period were albumen prints, which often have a warm tone, while gelatin printing was also beginning to become common in the 1870s and later.
If the image looks more like artwork, it may simply be a photograph of a professionally drawn portrait, which was common at the time. So the best identification based on the information given is: an early mounted photographic print, not a daguerreotype.
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