Daguerreotypes are the
earliest form of photography and can bring the
highest prices. The process was introduced in
1839, was widely popular during 1852-1854 and
was still in use up until about 1860.
The image is produced on a
silver-coated copper plate. So when you have it
in you hand it kind of reflects like a mirror.
The image of the boy and girl above is an
example. Although there are many, many
portraits of family members out there what
collectors want are unusual scenes of people in
their occupations, outdoor scenes, military,
etc. They came in various sizes including full
plate (about height 8 inches, width 6 1/2
inches) to the more common 1/6 plate size (about
height 2 1/2 width 3) and some smaller.
Ambrotype taken apart showing glass
Ambrotypes are photographs
that are on a glass plate and a black either
metal or paper liner is placed behind the glass
plate. I took an apart an ambrotype below to
show what it looks like. These were introduced
in 1854 and were very popular during the
1857-1859 period and used up until about 1865.
I have sold ambrotypes
upwards of $5,000 for the unusual outdoor image
while a typical portrait of a family member
might be $10-$30.
Tintypes are introduced in
1856 and become widely popular and were used up
until the introduction of paper around 1867.
Tintypes are quite common so there really has to
be something very, very unusual about them to
command a high price. They came in all kinds of
sizes and miniatures that were popular with
school classes.
In 1854 the carte de viste
is introduced and takes over the photography
market. It is widely used from 1860 through
1905 and accounts for most of the photos we see
in the old family albums.
Dags, ambrotypes and
tintypes can scratch very, very easily so I do
not recommend a novice take them out of their
cases. A professional can restore them and
sometimes a simple cleaning of the cover glass
can make a big difference.
The most expensive dag I
have sold to date was just over $7,000 for a
full plate dag of a family take in Boston, MA.
Happy Hunting and have an Aday!
