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Thread: Found Photographs

  1. #691
    Randy's Avatar
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    Re: Found Photographs

    Well Mr. Cowan, looks like you did it again. The signature belongs to the photographer, not the subject.
    Below is another portrait signed by the same photographer - Richard T. Dooner:



    Guess I'll never know who the subject is in my portrait, unless Mr. Cowan recognizes him.
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52893762/bigger4b.jpg

  2. #692

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    Re: Found Photographs

    A. call me Bill!
    B. no, I don't recognize them but the child could be anybody's boy but almost certainly from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
    The man, done in soft focus, is much more interesting to me very like the work done in the 1920 to 1920 work. It is possible that if you look at sources that feature the Philadelphia Salon photos of those early years you may find it.

  3. #693
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    Re: Found Photographs

    This is my first Ambrotype purchase:



    The process, invented in the early 1850's, was in vogue for only about 10 years, when it was largely replaced by the tintype and other print processes. I purchased it from an ebay seller in England for next to nothing. The shipping of about $12 (15-20 years ago) was more than the picture cost.

    This photograph was - I thought - likely made in the mid 1860's, but the first conflicting clue was "July 1891" etched on the back of the wooden frame, and conflicting with that date is the fact that barely visible under that etching is the date "July 1888". So at some point in the early history of this photograph, the owner etched “July 1888” on the back, but then someone decided that 1891 was the correct date of the photograph.



    The image was not a studio portrait but was taken outdoors as evidenced by the brush in the background, and it was likely on one of those many gloomy, overcast, British afternoons.
    The lady on the right has a folded paper in her lap. A close-up scan shows the printing on it. I inverted it as the writing is upside down in the picture. It reads:

    July 12
    Modern Society
    Cadbury's Cocoa
    Sunlight



    I did a lot of searching for British news papers / periodicals from the 1800's and can not find any named "Modern Society", so I gave up on that.
    “Cadbury's Cocoa": Cadbury's was founded in England in 1824. So that adds to the idea that this picture was taken in England.
    “Sunlight”: Was a brand of household soap manufactured by the British company Lever Bros. But they didn't start making “Sunlight” until 1884.

    So the date(s) etched on the back of the picture frame are looking more accurate than my initial 1860 estimation, as the picture had to be taken after 1884, even though the ambrotype process ceased in popularity 20 years earlier. My search of the history of the ambrotype led me to this statement - "Collodion positives (ambrotypes) first appeared in about 1853. By the 1860s the process had largely disappeared from high street studios, but it remained popular with itinerant open-air photographers until the 1880s, because portraits could be made in a few minutes while sitters waited."
    The book “Fixed In Time” states that the ambrotype remained popular in England many years after it lost popularity in the US, well into the 1890's.

    So, my ambrotype was likely made in the mid to late 1880's, and quite possibly in July of 1888, as the original etching on the back states, and is very likely of two lovely young English ladies.

    A few days after I email my findings to some of my camera-collector friends, one of them, Alexander, sent me this reply:

    "On the Modern Society paper I see the word “Saturday” next to July 12th. He continued – Saturday, July 12th occurred in 1884 and again in 1890. There was no Saturday, July 12th in 1888 or 1891!"

    The closer I looked at the scan of the paper in the ladies lap, the easier I could make out “Saturday" before July 12th”.

    It seems to me, more likely that the lady is carrying around a copy of the Modern Society that was only a year old (July 12, 1890) rather than the other possibility that it was 4 years old (July 12, 1884).

    It does appear that the July 1891 date etched on the frame back is very likely accurate.
    Last edited by Randy; 31-Jul-2021 at 16:11. Reason: update
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52893762/bigger4b.jpg

  4. #694

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    Re: Found Photographs

    Wow that is quite the investigation. I think the dates match well with the clothing as well. The Gigot sleeves of the lady on the right date very nearly to 1890 and onward for about 10 years.
    One other interesting thing about Ambrotypes is that they can be left/right reversed or not, since they are the original glass negative which can be turned over to present either face forward with the appropriate extra layers of protection and blacking with the casing. Here the glass has been turned over and the writing on the newspaper is read correctly right to left.

  5. #695

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    Re: Found Photographs

    I enjoy trying to decipher the context of a found photo. Thanks to all for posting these.
    Garry Madlung
    Veteran of many tours of the Canadian Rockies

  6. #696
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    Re: Found Photographs

    This is D. D. Wisell (Weisell), a 1/9th plate ambrotype that I have had in my collection for some years.



    After I purchased this cased ambrotype, I dismantled it for cleaning and found a note inside:




    June 1857 – D. D. Wisell - to – Gufsie Robinson
    I have found a “D. D. Wisell” born in (aprox) 1833, as well as a “David D. Weisell”, born in 1832 (I suspect that they are the same person), which would have made him 25 years of age in 1857, when this ambrotype was made.

    I suspect that this is indeed David D. Weisell – he was a dentist, inventor, and medical doctor living in Indiana. He died in 1909.


    I have found several women that could be the "Gufsie" in the note, but no way to know for sure. And thanks to the 2005 obituary for Davids 94 year old granddaughter, I have been able to make contact with a few of his great and great, great grandchildren and email them a nice image scan.

    *post script - July 31 - I managed to find the obituary of D. D. Weisell's granddaughter - she passed in 2005 at age 94. Using the obit and ancestry dot com I managed to locate his great grandson and great, great granddaughter. I have contacted them and emailed the jpegs of him, which they had never seen before.
    Last edited by Randy; 31-Jul-2021 at 16:12.
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52893762/bigger4b.jpg

  7. #697

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    Re: Found Photographs

    Very cool. I wonder if he served in the civil war. Does the Government have an online list of people who signed up?

  8. #698
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    Re: Found Photographs

    He registered for the draft in 1863, and lists his occupation as physician (last name on this list below), but I have not found any documentation that he served in the war, but I really wasn't looking for it either. I did find his marriage license and it is dated 1864.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52893762/bigger4b.jpg

  9. #699
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    Re: Found Photographs

    He registered for the draft in June of 1863. I haven't searched further.

  10. #700
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    Re: Found Photographs

    Tin Can

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