Another one for dating please_Sydney school class

[cocksie]

Sorry, the photo is a bit damaged.  I can't recognise anyone in it yet so some kind of date would help.  It would have been taken somewhere in Sydney ...... am hoping it might be some time in the 1880s.  It was found collated with some other photos in an envelope.  All other photos seem to relate to a particular ancestor ..... so am wondering if somewhere in this class shot this particular person is a child .... which would work if it was early 1880s.
Thank you
cocksie

[chinakay]

Well the only really dateable person in this is the teacher at the back, but she's pretty hard to see. Maybe late 1870s by the look of the hairstyle....the photo's kind of small and hard to see.

Can we see the back please? Doesn't have to be big.

Cheers,
China

[cocksie]

Hi China
There is nothing on the back.
The photo is on very thin "paper" which is stuck to the yellow backing card

I'm a newbie at this scanning and posting of photos (never had any old ancestor photos and just recently stumbled across an old envelope in a box) .... I might be able to scan at higher resolution and  crop/zoom in on the teacher ..... would this help?
cocksie
ps thanks for your help on this thread and the other one(s) I have posted that you have responded to

[chinakay]

Old photos were printed on very thin paper that couldn't stand on their own, so they were pasted onto rigid card by the photographer. There won't be anything on back of the print.

But there is usually a design on the back of the card, and it's a dating clue.

[chinakay]

You could try scanning at higher resolution, but you should crop first. Just drag a box around the woman at the back and scan that.

[cocksie]

No design on the back of the card ..... just "blank" like another photo of a lady have posted today as well (albeit the photo paper of the lady is much much thicker).

The other photos (size of swap cards) in the pile all have photos stuck to the cards, with print of studio name at the bottom plus printing on the back of them.

Does the thickness of the photo paper relate to age of the photo?  ie the thinner the paper the older the photo?  (or, as sudden thought popped into the head, does it just mean the studio was more careful with their pennies?)
cocksie

[cocksie]

Tried cropping and scanning at a higher resolution but teacher does not come up much clearer at all - I think the photo is just too faded and damaged.
cocksie

[chinakay]

Well I had a go at brightening it, but it's so small. I'd say right around 1880ish.

The paper was pretty much uniform but the cardstock got a bit thicker. I have no idea what thickness though.

Cheers,
China

[cocksie]

1880ish seems right ....... if my ancestor is actually in the photo!  I have emailed a scanned copy to both my father and grand uncle to see if they can see any child who looks like the ancestor I "think" should be in the photo!
Thank you again for your help - you are very generous.
cocksie