Glass Negative Found

[jnave]

I recently found a glass negative of a distant relative in a wooden box with velvet inside. The picture is very clear. Upon some research I found that it is a glass negative. I've uploaded a few pictures of it. I found a few posts similar to this piece and am asking for help, anyone have any ideas about it? I hope you can see the clothing in the close up of the picture itsself, can anyone tell a general time frame it could have been taken? Thanks so much!!

[Peter Gomena]

What you have is an ambrotype, one of the first wet-plate processes to replace the daguerrotype in about 1851. It is a mirror-image of the subject placed in front of a dark material, or in the case of your image, the back side of the glass plate has been painted black. You have a nicely preserved image, be careful, it is fragile and needs proper storage. Keep it in its original presentation box and out of damp, humid conditions. Ambrotypes are currently in vogue among many large-format photographers right now. You can find out more about them on-line.

Peter Gomena

[jnave]

Thank you so much! This is so helpful in my research!!