Can you date this photo please?

[Woodentop50]

Borrowing from Mudges nice brightening and contrast job....I have done a bit of Specsaving.

[mudge]

Borrowed Woodentop's clean up of my version one, and sharpened more, repaired a bit of dress damage, smoothed skin and fine tuned,
Hope you like
Mudge

[Rian]

Thank you all very much indeed. You really bring them back to life.
I believe they are the people I thought they were; the date that Old Rowley put on them would make her about 30 in this photo (I don't know her husband's age). She is the furthest back I have managed to find in my maternal line, them being Irish, and I do look a bit like her. as does my daughter — nice to have continuity.
Thank you again, Rian.

[skippy]

Here's another one for your collection.

Skippy

[PrueM]

Hi Rian 

OR is spot on with the date, I was going to say 1860 myself.  Could be a wee bit later depending on how up-to-date they were with their clothes - maybe 1865 at the absolute outside.

The brown material on the back of the plate sounds like bitumen.  This was painted over the back to make the picture, which is actually a negative, appear positive.  If it's really crumbly and patchy, a photo conservator should be able to scrape the old bitumen off and replace it with a good quality black acrylic paint.

As you can see from the damage to the image, the front where the picture sits on the glass is very fragile.  It scratches really easily so the best way to store these is inside some kind of case where the lid is held away from the surface of the plate.  Originally these pictures were normally kept in special little cases with metal mounts and velvet padding.

Cheers
Prue

[Rian]

Thanks Skippy — I like the colours.

Thanks for your good advice Prue. I have it in bubble wrap at present— better go and sort it quick...
Cheers, Rian.