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Message:: [QUOTE="Figtree3, post: 9483617, member: 33"]Thanks for tagging me! I finally saw it just now! Looks like your questions have been answered. You've opened it and saw "blackened back glass" -- Does this mean dark paint on the glass? Or is the glass actually a dark color? In any case, if it's actually glass it would have to be an ambro. Lots of different methods were used to darken the back of an ambrotype. And by the way, I do have ambrotypes that look like tintypes. I used to always take them apart to check. It's not always possible to tell what they are from an online photograph. Oh, and I checked Sean Nolan's book Fixed In Time. It is a detailed study of the dating of mats, preservers, and cases. The mat is the brass frame that is closest to the image, and the preserver is the piece of brass around the outside edge of the mat that holds it all together. I found the mat for yours dated in the mid-1850s range. It seems the preserver is about that time period, too -- or a little later. But somebody could use an older mat with a slightly newer preserver. You didn't show the back of the case, but if you'd like to do that I could check Nolan's book to see a possible date. One thing to be aware of, though. This item is over 150 years old, and things can be changed through time. A case can be changed by later owners or collectors, etc. But not always...[/QUOTE]