Photo type ID?

Wraith_3

Private
Joined
Mar 24, 2021
Hi this photo is from my dad's collection and usually he would have printed out his original auction page, but I don't have one for several and I'm no expert. I do know this is not a tin type because it's not magnetic. I'm thinking from descriptions that it's a daguerreotype. Is that correct?

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Not a dag, an ambrotype. Dags were the first "type" that was produced, starting in 1839. The process used silver-surfaced copper plates, and the image was IN the silver surface. Copper was used for the plate only for its' stiffness, and it was much cheaper than using a plate made entirely of silver.

In 1851, and Englishman invented the ambrotype, a glass plate that had a gooey collodion spread onto one surface. It was then soaked in a silver solution, and, while still wet, the plate was exposed. Chemicals then fixed the silver image permanently, and a dark background was added to the plate to cause the produced negative to be able to be viewed as a positive. It was cheaper and much less labor to produce than the daguerreotype. The process was patented, and it wasn't until 1854 that ambros were were franchised and produced in the US. "Ambrotype" is from the Greek "ambrotos" = immortal, plus "type" = image, thus immortal image.

In 1856, an American came up with a variant of the ambro process, applying the silvered collodion to a surface of an iron sheet that was darkened with a dark japanned lacquer. The was known as a tintype, also melainotype or ferrotype. By 1860, the dag was obsolete, being replaced by the ambro and tintypes, as well as the process for albumen prints, using a paper backing (such as CDV's).

Dags of soldiers taken during the Civil War are quite rare. Almost all we find are images made before the conflict. Due to the lack of iron that was available, most Confederate hard images were ambrotypes.
 
Thanks for the info! I'm learning more about these now that I'm selling his collection. I am more knowledgeable on CW firearms and swords so if I don't have info he left for them, which he did for the majority, I'm having to research everything. He had a few daguerreotypes that sold and I was just taking a guess based on the coloration and not being magnetic. I've sold probably 10-15 of his images on ebay so far so keep any eye out if anyone is interested. I'm going to list this one in the next day or so.
 
If the photo is directly on glass it would definitely be an ambrotype. There might also be another piece of clear glass above it. It looks like an ambrotype to me.
 
I have no clue how to remove these to check. Are they just press fit into the case? I saw my dad with the pictures out, but I never saw how he popped them out.
 
Thanks. I don't collect Civil War stuff, but am a collector and know enough to not mess with anything, try to clean it, etc. so that's why I haven't messed with any of them. I'd rather say "I've been told it's an ambrotype, but I'm not taking it apart to double check." than destroy it. My dad always made sure to keep these out of light and protected, so I'm not going to be the one to mess them up!
 
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