glass photo?

[teresasmith]

I have photo, sadly badly damaged with a diagonal crack and chips. 

From the chips at the corners, a photo printed on card can be seen and the bevelled edge glass is firmly attached all over to the glass - the layers cannot be separated. There is a cardboard backing attached to the back.

Can anyone please tell me any more about these types of photos? I know it dates from about 1900. Would repairs be possible?

Many thanks.

[Darksecretz]

hi

can you scan it??and post on here??

Julie

[PrueM]

Hi Teresa 

Sounds intriguing!

Two things that spring to mind are a crystoleum (usually a photo attached to back of curved glass and then backpainted to add colour) and an ordinary framed photograph behind curved glass that has become stuck to the glass over time.

If you could post some pictures that would really help me advise you what to do with it!

Prue

[teresasmith]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry, I couldn't do the scan yesterday but here it is now! The photo and glass is flat and it looks as though the photo has always been attached to the glass - ther's no sign of it coming away. Because the glass is bevelled, it doesn't sem as though it would need to be framed. Hope this makes sense!

[PrueM]

Hi Teresa,

Hmmm...interesting! I have no idea if this is a proprietary product or not - I've certainly not seen any before.  The date would be 1890s.
I have an old photo frame of my grandmother's which has the same bevelled glass...it had a little metal stand that used to clip around the edges of the glass, with a sort of leg thing out the back to keep it upright.  the photo in that was not stuck to the glass though.

The only thing I can think of is that someone was experimenting and decided to try out sticking a photo to glass for some reason    Not sure what adhesive they have used, since it looks extremely clean with no deterioration visible.
Sorry I can't really say any more than that 

Oh, and it's an albumen print, so my other theory that the emulsion was gelatine and it got wet/warm and stuck either accidentally or deliberately to the glass, is out the window!

Prue

[teresasmith]

Thanks Prue. What really puzzles me is that the photos and glass seem bonded together - no bubbles or loose patches visible, but I have no idea how they could be stuck together. Any ideas how to store it would be welcome. It seems a shame to keep it hidden away!

[PrueM]

Hi Teresa,

It's unusual, for sure.  If you want to display it, a good conservation framer should be able to come up with a solution which will hold the pieces of glass in place while presenting the pic nicely. Be aware that albumen prints do fade in the light, and this may be exacerbated by any deteriorating adhesive or glass.  Alternatively, get it scanned - either really high resolution, big file yourself, or done professionally - and have a nice copy printed for display purposes, and then wrap the original firmly in archival paper, and place in a box somewhere safe.

As I said, I've never seen one of these before.  Is the card still on the back of the photo, or is it just the thin paper the photo is printed on?

Prue

[saddles]

I can't repair your original but I have achieved repairs and added some colour to your copy !


Carolyn

[PrueM]

wow!    Great work Carolyn! 

Prue