choad wrote:

https://cruelery.com/img/Elizabeth.M.Collins.jpg

This ancient Daguerreotype surfaced over Christmas from the bottom of a box I was about to discard. Pictured here is my great, great, great, great grandmother. I don't know whether to believe the brittle paper it was wrapped in but the image was supposedly taken in Paris and later mounted in Boston.

If the 1840 date is accurate, it was taken less than year after photography was invented. I know its subject - Elizabeth M Collins - was born in 1783, before the Articles of Confederation were ratified and before the US existed. Neat, huh? Dunno what I'll do with this.

Clearly this is an old picture, but I'm doubting the 1840 date based upon the style of dress.  Now, granted, that's not a locked-in sort of thing and personal style could have a lot to do with that, but this style of dress seems more appropriate for a later era, perhaps during the 1860's-1870's.  In the early 1800's (the Regency period) a women's collar area was typically more open - it was popular for women to expose their lower neck and portions of their clavicle, with their shoulders sometimes exposed as well when in more formal attire.  Travelling clothes were the primary high-collar rainments of the era, and the woman in this picture does not appear to be dressed for travel.  High collars and bow-necks weren't really fashionable until well into the Victorian era.  Further, although this is a B&W picture and therefore it's difficult to tell actual color, it would appear that the demi-gloves and dress trim are black or a very dark color, and women did not commonly wear dark colours or black until the mid-1800's (after the Great Exhibition of 1851).

To properly date this it would be important to understand the actual type of photograph.  Is this really a Daguerreotype?  If so, it' should be behind a glass frame, as they are *very* fragile and should never be touched.  The material that is is printed on (glass, tin, etc) is also important as this will be key to dating the photo.

The Philadelphia Print Shop are experts in dating older prints (their folks are often on PBS' Antiques Roadshow)... might want to give them a ring and perhaps they can help  (they're on G'town Ave in Chestunt Hill).

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

Last edited by whosasailorthen (2008-01-11 11:47:42)

I have to post all this shit somewhere because it's taking up space on my desktop.