Collecting

Occupational? Tintype – Father and Son

~ dcphotoartist ~ 2 Comments

This is another estate sale find – a very small (smaller than 1/6th plate) tintype of what appears to be a father and son. I’m hesitantly calling it an occupational because they seem to be wearing work clothes. This must have been an inexpensive image given the small size of the plate and the fact that it’s not in a case or paper sleeve or any kind of protection, but if you look carefully, they did pay extra for the hand-coloring of their cheeks and the drapery on the stool the father is sitting on.

FatherSonOccupationalTin

Regardless, it’s an interesting image, as it raises all kinds of mental questions about what’s going on here- who were they, why did they sit for this photo, why did they not dress better if it is not an occupational photo, and why, if it is an occupational, do they not have any tools of their trade in the photo?

Tom Thumb Comp Card – “Liliputian Souvenir”

~ dcphotoartist ~ Leave a comment

Here’s an interesting one – a composite CDV of all the wedding CDVs from Tom Thumb’s wedding, plus a couple. This must have been a promo teaser from the Anthony archives, showcasing all the Tom Thumb CDVs in their catalog.

TomThumbWeddingCompCard

I have most of the wedding CDVs except the one with the priest (if anyone has a lead on a good copy of that one, please send me that way!), and a whole bunch not included on this card. When I get the chance to re-scan and re-organize my Tom Thumb CDV collection, I’ll post a new summary of them.

 

 

General Mite – Companion to Lucia Zarate

~ dcphotoartist ~ Leave a comment

A companion purchase to the recent Lucia Zarate CDV, here is a CDV of Francis Joseph Flynn, otherwise known as General Mite. There is a real-world connection between the two of them, as they performed together on stage in an international tour.

GeneralMiteLondonStereoCDV

In 1884 he would marry Millie Edwards, another little person, and would die in 1898 in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia (Wikipedia)

Never mind the dust…

~ dcphotoartist ~ Leave a comment

ManRobesDag

This has to be about the finest daguerreotype I own, quality-wise. It was an estate sale purchase on an online estate auction site. When listed, the picture looked bad, but having seen enough of these, my intuition said, “the cover glass is just dirty”. I bid, and won.

Well, I was right. When it arrived, there was a lot of dust inside the cover glass. The original seals were present, but they were totally shot. I removed them, opened the packet, and BOOM! This is what I found underneath. I have since cleaned the cover glass and will shortly be re-sealing with films-last tape. The dust you see in the scan here is now on the outside. I’m in awe of the gentle hand-coloring you see in his face and hands, and the texture of his waistcoat. You can practically feel the silk just looking at it!

This is a quarter-plate dag in leather case, probably late 1840s or at the latest early 1850s.

New Tom Thumb CDV

~ dcphotoartist ~ Leave a comment

TomThumbWifeBabyAdvert

The latest arrival in my collection – a new CDV of the Thumb “family” including the rent-a-baby, in a pose I haven’t seen before, combined with an advertising verso. The grand irony of the advertisement is that it violates the prime directive of advertising – let your customers know WHERE to get your products. Where on earth (let alone what street in what town in what state) is B. Green’s Modern Wonder Department??

 

Pvt. Thomas Adams, Co. H, 7th Wisconsin

~ dcphotoartist ~ Leave a comment

My latest acquisition- this was quite a surprise to find at an online estate auction: a 5×7 (roughly 1/2 plate) tintype in a gilt 8×10 frame, of an identified Union soldier. This is another case of it pays to do a little research when selling- the subject was misidentified as Thomas Hanks, and the rest of the information present in the label was described as “illegible”. It truly is hard to read, but a few minutes playing around in Photoshop and a few more minutes on the US Park Service Civil War Soldiers database (Search Soldiers) got me the confirmation of what I have. Thomas Adams was killed at the Siege of Petersburg on August 12, 1864. He managed to avoid the Battle of the Crater only to die some two weeks later. 

Che Mah

~ dcphotoartist ~ Leave a comment

This is another CDV I’ve been looking for for a long time – Che Mah, the Chinese Dwarf. I had previously purchased a copy that was in faded condition, thinking it would be some time before I’d find another in better shape. Then this one rolled around.

Che Mah by Eisenmann
Che Mah by Eisenmann

Unlike the facsimile signatures on the versos of a bunch of my Tom Thumb CDVs, I do believe the pencil signature in English and Chinese is in the hand of Che Mah directly. It certainly does not appear to be mechanically reproduced, and it looks distinct from the signature on the first one:

Che Mah, by Eisenmann
Che Mah, by Eisenmann

Admiral Dot by T.T. Tuthill, Moravia NY

Admiral Dot, by Tuthill
~ dcphotoartist ~ 2 Comments

My newest Admiral Dot image. At least I believe it is Admiral Dot, on tour in Moravia, NY.

Admiral Dot, by Tuthill
Admiral Dot, by Tuthill

Here are some other Admiral Dot images for comparison:

Admiral Dot age 13
Admiral Dot age 13
Admiral Dot age 14
Admiral Dot age 14
Admiral Dot age 18
Admiral Dot age 18
Admiral Dot with Lottie Swartwood
Admiral Dot with Lottie Swartwood

Although the new image is not labeled, I think he looks an awful lot like the Admiral Dot in the last photo with his wife, Lottie Swartwood. Judge for yourselves, and let me know what you think.

Second Pose – Lavinia Warren by Appleton

Lavinia Warren, by Appleton
~ dcphotoartist ~ Leave a comment

I just acquired another CDV of Lavinia Warren by Appleton of New York. What’s interesting is that here the photographer, A.A. Turner, is also credited on the studio imprint. I’m assuming that in order for this to have happened, Mr. Turner must have been a financial partner in the business or otherwise a major player, because the other name studios of the period never credited the camera operators, even ones who later went on to have extremely notable careers of their own (Timothy O’Sullivan and Alexander Gardner both worked for Mathew Brady at some point but are not credited on Brady’s cartes de visite, even when Gardner was Brady’s studio manager in DC and helped restore the financial well-being of the studio).

Lavinia Warren, by Appleton
Lavinia Warren, by Appleton

For comparison I’m including the other Lavinia Warren image by Appleton I have:

Lavinia Warren, by Appleton
Lavinia Warren, by Appleton

These appear to be different sittings, as her outfit and the furniture in both scenes are different.