1840-1860 era Antique Photo Portrait- Restoration COMPLETE! - 6 March
Did some exploring this morning and came upon a small area with a bunch of iron hits and got one real good reading that possibly was a coin but to my surprise there in the ground was a mini-frame, which at the time I thought was a mirror.
Once I got it home and cleaned it up a little, I saw that the mirror was actually water underneath the glass, so I put the mini frame under a desk lamp and after an hour the water dried up and the mirror effect was gone but now I could vaguely see a Portrait of a man or woman wearing a hat, most of the details are there, I might play around later with different lighting and camera settings to see if it clears up any more, but you can see the hat, the eyes, nose, mouth, neck, shoulders, so I have no doubt it is an old portrait of some type. I have no idea on the age but I would guess between Civil War era up to turn of the century based on the style and the hat.Open for any guesses on man or woman and age of this artifact.
I am not sure if the site was a homestead, work area or even a out of the way dump, but there was a small depression in the ground nearby, so perhaps it was a simple living area or it was a work area of some type.
The other object is rather fragile and I have no idea what it is other than old.... [FINAL RESTORED PHOTOS ON PAGE 2 REPLY 112]Don
"The mantra has always been don't clean a (copper) coin or it will lose value.
For undug coins this is true. For dug coins this is untrue.
The value will increase with judicious cleaning."
Re: One unusual relic today - mid 1800's photo possibly
Did some more research this afternoon and it appears the mini frame photograph is perhaps a Ambrotype, if so it is more likely of Civil War era and I also found a photo or two from the Civil War era with men wearing hats very similar to my photo. I am going to ask around on some photo sites for more information and whether to try and open up the case and clean the inside of the glass frame that holds a lot of dirt, or leave it be, and if any preservation needs to be done.
The photo did not get any better drying out overnight, so what is in the posted pics is the best that can be seen.
Excerpt from this site: http://www.ajmorris.com/roots/photo/history.php In 1854, an offspring of the wet plate method was introduced to compete with the daguerreotype, the new form being called an ambrotype. In this process, a glass plate was again used. By mounting the negative image in a case with a black backing, it could be viewed as a positive image. This form was quite popular from 1855 to about 1870.
Don
"The mantra has always been don't clean a (copper) coin or it will lose value.
For undug coins this is true. For dug coins this is untrue.
The value will increase with judicious cleaning."
Re: One unusual relic today - mid 1800's photo possibly
That is a very cool find. It looks as though the figure is a man, possibly bearded with a necktie. I messed with the brightness, contrast and midtones a little to see if I could bring out any detail. It seems to be a bit better.
Re: One unusual relic today - mid 1800's photo possibly
Originally Posted by Neil in West Jersey
That is a very cool find. It looks as though the figure is a man, possibly bearded with a necktie. I messed with the brightness, contrast and midtones a little to see if I could bring out any detail. It seems to be a bit better.
Neil, I played around too and got similar results, for a friend who had trouble seeing any figure at all I did the following photo marking, I wish I had a better program to draw a good outline, I might have one but do not know how to do it, anyway, here is what I did for him, and yes, I think a beard also.
Don
"The mantra has always been don't clean a (copper) coin or it will lose value.
For undug coins this is true. For dug coins this is untrue.
The value will increase with judicious cleaning."
Re: One unusual relic today - mid 1800's photo possibly
Originally Posted by Montana Jim
Don... a most excellent find!
I can't see anything in the pic except stains.
Jim, once you look,especially on the doctored photo by Neil it is rather easy to see the portrait. I am used to looking for them, years ago I found numerous photo ID badges from a local WWI munitions plant and some were rather clear and some were impossible to make out the photo and ID number below there mugs, but these are on I believe Celluoloid, but still the same appearance to them.
It is actually amazing anything is seeable on the mini-portrait since all I read about this type is that water destroys them and lol this photo was filled with water, that is why it looked like a mirror until the water evaporated and then the photo outlines started to appear.......
"The mantra has always been don't clean a (copper) coin or it will lose value.
For undug coins this is true. For dug coins this is untrue.
The value will increase with judicious cleaning."
Re: One unusual relic today - mid 1800's photo possibly
found one of these a few years back but it had a lock of hair in it. looks to be 1850s-1870s possible older, only guessing since the small frame i found looks like yours and thats what i was told after i had it checked out with a curatior from phildelphia.
Re: One unusual relic today - mid 1800's photo possibly
i tried messing with it a lil to so if i could bring it out some i dunno if it helped but kinda looks like a guy in a army uniform from the civil war era maybe
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Originally Posted by Neil in West Jersey
Thats a photo of my great great great great semi-great grand pappy !!! LOL !
