Doing a little internet research, I found a photo labeled "Rare Civil War Era Tintype of a River Boat Captain Circa 1863" with a man with the same kind of hat like the first tintype. Does that seem legit? Do the clothes say anything to you guys?
I think the Riverboat captain tintype probably is rare since I was only able to find a couple of examples of that on the entire internet. It's certainly not a common image or we would see more examples. If they are out there, I haven't been able to find them. But, I keep looking!
Samuel Clemens wore a similar hat.I got a laugh out of the blacksmith tools! I've seen "rare" barbed wire -- but who collects barbed wire? Once, about 30 years ago, I saw a salesman's sample case of glass eyeballs with about 30 eyes in it. I wanted that case so badly but it was just too expensive for my pocketbook. Another time, a shop in Barstow had a tintype album full of armed cowboys, etc. but they wanted $2K for it. Everybody wanted it but no one could afford the $2K. It eventually sold as it was a very fine unusual album. (I would say it was "rare.")
So, yeah. Some stuff is rare and extremely desirable.
Anyhow, I'm going to keep looking for info for the top tintype. The bottom one is a really cute kid. Too bad no one thought to put a little slip of paper with his name on it. Or they could have written his name right on the case!
I got a laugh out of the blacksmith tools! I've seen "rare" barbed wire -- but who collects barbed wire? Once, about 30 years ago, I saw a salesman's sample case of glass eyeballs with about 30 eyes in it. I wanted that case so badly but it was just too expensive for my pocketbook. Another time, a shop in Barstow had a tintype album full of armed cowboys, etc. but they wanted $2K for it. Everybody wanted it but no one could afford the $2K. It eventually sold as it was a very fine unusual album. (I would say it was "rare.")
So, yeah. Some stuff is rare and extremely desirable.
Anyhow, I'm going to keep looking for info for the top tintype. The bottom one is a really cute kid. Too bad no one thought to put a little slip of paper with his name on it. Or they could have written his name right on the case!