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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: bolttail on Tuesday 20 April 21 18:31 BST (UK)
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Is there anyone out there will a knowledge of historical fashion who could give me an opinion as to the approximate dates of the attached photos.
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Mrs Dodd looks like 1860s.
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That would fit perfectly. Many thanks for your opinion. Any thoughts on Mr Scott? Is he dressed as an 1860's man?
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He could also be 1860s.
I'm dithering between late 1850s -1860s. I hope Jim or Carol will come with their views.
The oval became popular late 1860s-early 1870s so I'm wondering if it was a reprint.
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1850's reprint.
You can see her wedding ring appears to be on her right hand
so the original was an ambrotype.
Her dress style is also typical of that decade.
The one of him is a bit more difficult so we need to see all of
the cardstock including the back.
Could be 1860's or 70's.
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Hi Jim1,
You write, "1850's reprint. You can see her wedding ring appears to be on her right hand so the original was an Ambrotype."
I've been trying to understand the technicalities and your conclusion, but my knowledge in this area isn't up to the job. Google and Wikipedia haven't got me any further, though I now have a vague idea as to what an Ambrotype is. Could you please explain? Many thanks.
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Hi again Jim1. For the purpose of clarity, the bit I don't understand is how the wedding ring, which presumably was on her left hand, appears on her right hand in the copy.
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An ambrotype was the photographic process used throughout the 1850's
& into the early 60's.
In 1858 a new process came about which we commonly call a CdeV
which is what you have.
The difference is that an ambrotype is a positive process & the CdeV a negative.
With a positive process the image comes out in reverse so waistcoats look the wrong way
& wedding rings look on the wrong hand.
Ambrotypes were images imposed on glass where the light areas come out light & dark areas
come out dark.
The glass used was the end result.
The CdeV was imposed on glass but the light areas come out dark & dark areas come out light.
The glass negative is then used to transfer the image to a thin sheet of light sensitive paper then
stuck to a card (CdeV).
This made the image come out the right way round.
So when you see a CdeV with the subject the wrong way round you know it's a copy of an ambrotype.
Her general dress/hair style is also typical of the 1850's.
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Many thanks Jim1. I'm getting there slowly. With the Ambrotype, could you not reverse the image by viewing it from the reverse direction.I understand that it's an image on a glass plate with a dark backing material to enable viewing, or have I got that wrong?
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Quite right. Shellac was commonly used as a backing.
Here's a similar ambro from the same decade.
You can see his waistcoat looks fastened the wrong side
& her wedding ring is on the wrong hand.
If a copy of this was taken using the negative process it
would be a faithful representation of the ambro so would
look like this (without the tinting).
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Many thanks. I'm now getting the idea. Would I be correct in presuming that the shellac would have to go on the opposite side of the glass to the light sensitive coating? In which case there would be no option of reversing the image. Am I correct therefore in understanding that all Ambrotype images are 'mirror images'?
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Correct on both counts.
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Many thanks Jim1 for your patience in explaining all this. The people I have in mind as the subjects, the dress style, and the technology, all seem to fit together nicely, which is very encouraging. Your efforts are much appreciated.