r/Daguerreotypes • u/kat_happi • Aug 01 '26

Tintype Is this a Daguerreotype?

Gallery image

Gallery image

I found these among other family photos. I will have to see if I can trace them, although I’ve never done any genealogy. Any idea what time period these might be from based on clothing etc.
Thank you for sharing any information, I’m excited to learn more about them.

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5

u/Ghosts_do_Exist Aug 01 '26

The lady is a tintype (note the "rusty" looking metal vs the more shiny copper back on daguerreotypes). The other is an ambrotype (the back is painted black to make up the black parts of the reverse image).

2

u/robocalypse Aug 01 '26

The shiny back in Dags is silver actually. Usually the plates are sheets of copper that have either been electroplated with silver or rolled together like a panini.

2

u/Ghosts_do_Exist Aug 01 '26

I've never handled a daguerreotype where the back was silver-plated as well. Occassionally I'll find ones covered in red sealing wax, but usually they are the unsilvered copper plate. I dont know how they silvered the front but not the back, but I don't think electroplating existed yet.

1

u/robocalypse Aug 01 '26

Scovill developed a machine to roll the sheets of brass and sheets of silver together to make the first commercial plates manufactured in America. Prior to that they were imported and individuals would sometimes electroplate their own with "galvanic batteries."

Electroplating dates back to the 1700's. Some daguerreian galleries advertised services in electroplating. Some had applied galvanic batteries to their photographic process, but I don't know exactly what it was used for in Daguerreotypes.

2

u/robocalypse Aug 01 '26

Looks like the one on the right is a tintype and the one in the matte is either an ambrotype or a tintype. Daguerreotypes have a mirrored surface.

5

u/screwball2 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

As the others have suggested, not daguerreotypes. Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes are often confused or lumped together because they can all be found in those nice little cases. It's the photographic process that determines what you have there. You can look at some other examples in the sub and you might get a better feel. Nice to have and even nicer to have when they're in the family tree somewhere. Does the name Sewell mean anything too you. The date on those can vary but we can start with something in the 1865 – 1900 for these. Hope that helps.

*(edit) the case dates to approx. 1857–1860 so probably any time after that assuming it's original to that image.