Date this photo please?

[Shonagh]

Can someone help to date this old photo and restore it? 

Thank you very much.

[RecycledHippy]

Quick one from me

Hippy

[chinakay]

Lovely photo!

The lady seems to be wearing an outfit that looks like traditional dress...Scotland maybe? But looking at the style of sleeves, the backdrop, the curtain, the flooring and the general style of the pose, I would say early 1860s.

Most of the photo is made up of the cardboard backing...if you did a higher-resolution scan, say 300-6--dpi and crop the surround off it, you'll get a better restore. You may have to reduce the size of the photo to get it under the 500kb limit if you do a 600dpi scan, but you can do that easily by resizing downward. Don't compress, resize.

You'll also have to rename the file...just add a letter or number to it and that will be fine.

Although I see Hippy has already done a nice one

Cheers,
China

[chinakay]

The lady has arthritis...see the size of her knuckles?

[Shonagh]

Thank you to China for the help with dating the photo and the observation about the arthritis!  Sorry for taking some days to say thank you but I have trouble with the site and can't find my posts - don't know what I do wrong but have to scroll through and through to find mine and then see if anyone has replied.

Anyway, thank you very much. 

Shonagh

[chinakay]

Shonagh, you can find your posts by enabling email notifications down at the bottom of the page.

Or you can click on your own profile, and down at the bottom there's an option to show latest posts.

I just noticed a typo in my first reply...it should have said 300-600dpi scan

Cheers,
China

[Shonagh]

I'm re-posting this photo.  Previously someone suggested that the old lady was possibly wearing national dress - maybe Scottish.  I don't have any Scottish connections at all so would like opinions.

Obviously she's dressed in her Sunday best clothes but still very simply.  We have determined that the photo was taken early 1860s.

Does anyone recognise the type of dress and bonnet that she's wearing.  I've searched and searched the internet but costumes/dress over the decades tends to be 'posh frocks' and I can find nothing for people who would have a best set of clothes but never the less were poor and wouldn't have the money for a crinoline!

Any help would be appreciated.

Shonagh

[chinakay]

I just thought that shawl looked a bit tartany...Welsh shawls were similar. Could be English too, it's just typical old lady dress.

The bonnet she is wearing is as far as I know just called a bonnet, which ties under the chin by ribbons called strings. It was a common style for all ladies during the 1850s and by older women well into the 1860s and even beyond.

http://www.cartes.freeuk.com/dec/chelf.jpg
http://www.rogerco.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/2004/glukf.jpg
http://www.rogerco.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/2004/olsof.jpg
http://homepages.tesco.net/~patio/maddy/jone3f.jpg
http://homepages.tesco.net/~patio/maddy/callf.jpg

If you would like more of an analysis than I can give, PM Old Rowley who is very expert at dating clothing...he seems to be online now

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;u=22071

Cheers,
China

[old rowley]

Unfortunately I can not add anything to China's description as the the item of clothing that could give clues as to the age etc is hidden from view by the large apron and shawl. The only thing to say about it is that it appears to have coat sleeves but with out being able to see any detail it is hard to say more. As for the bonnet, again there is really not much to say with regards to this item of headwear due to  the postion of the pose set by the photographer on his subject there is not much to see of the bonnet.

OR