Featured Part of some new photo purchases - ID help

Found this photo amongst some Tintypes and CDV's I recently purchased in a lot. The photo is on glass, but I can't tell if it's a Dag or Ambrotype. I think ambro as when I turn it sideways I don't get a mirror/ghostly like reflection. No case. Can anyone help ID the photo type, maybe based on the back image? The other 2 photos came in the same lot. Just posting as I think they are interesting. Thank you.

 

@Figtree3 !!!!

 

You may be able to identify location of last photograph with IOOF + earthquake. Northern California somewhere.

Debora

 

the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political and non-sectarian co-ed international fraternal order founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland.

.

 

The first pic looks like any number of U.S. or C.S.A. Colonels or Generals...scruffy & unkempt, perhaps militarily brilliant but probably not, an' certainly smelling like a goat. He's not as old as he may appear, simply due to th' ravages of life in those times...not to mention frequent & vicious armed conflict.
A finely done character study, which could very well be a Brady. Thanks1

 

bad hair day !

 

The portrait's an Ambrotype ('Collodion Positive' in UK) & wonderfully clear-you see the nappy texture on his clothing.It would've been housed in a gutta percha case.They could be very clear & some even have a 3-dimensional appearance.

 

Good luck ID'ing the quake scene-might just start posting to Historical Societies,or start Googling historic IOOF Halls West Coast.Just to be thorough I'd go from San Diego to Seattle (but as D said-likely from mid-Cal North).

 

Here's a map showing the effected areas. Not a very big area -- Monterrey to the Oregon border along the coast. And you're looking for a small-ish town. There's 1907 photographs of Ferndale's earthquake damage on the internet fyi (but telephone/telegraph poles not a match.)

Debora

 

As stated by @bosko69 , the image on glass is an ambrotype. Daguerreotypes are on metal, not glass. Dags have a silvery finish that reflects, and the image can only be seen well from certain angles.

Ambrotypes and tintypes are similar to each other, except that tintypes are printed on darkened thin metal plates, usually made of iron.

You probably should get that image into a case or frame as soon as possible. The image appears to be in fairly good condition, and a case will help to keep it that way!

 

One side of the plate was coated with black varnish.When the bare side was blackened, the thickness of the glass adds a sense of depth to the image. Another plate of glass is put over the fragile emulsion side to protect it & the whole was mounted in a metal frame and kept in a protective case.This protected the image well but tends to darken it. Ambrotypes were sometimes hand-tinted,and done masterfully,can be spectacular.
PS- A 'Ruby Ambrotype' is created by using a dark reddish-colored glass.

 

Thanks for all the replies! I just held the ambrotype up to a light source, and the glass looked red. Would that date the ambro further, if it were ruby? I don't have a piece of glass, mat and case for this photo. It's a 4.25x3.25" 1/4 plate. Till I can get a proper protective case, what would be the best way to store/preserve the image?

Thank you for the info. about the possible earthquake photo. I will research it further. How are you all storing these larger cabinet type photos? I want to protect both of these cabinet era photos as well, but I'm not sure of the best way to store them, since they are mounted on a large board? Most of my smaller photos are in archival plastic sleeves. As for the baseball photo, I'm trying to determine if the photo was done by a Charles "Betts" Waite of Tacoma, WA, or maybe Alvin Waite, also living near Tacoma during this period. I was trying to determine who the team is. It says Grand Hearin(s)?, I think. But I'm not finding much with that search. I thought maybe it was a high school team from the Tacoma area. Anyway, thanks again for the feedback!

 

Thanks, when I first saw the photo, I thought it said "roof"

 

Thank you, I posted an image to a Victorian photo forum, perhaps someone can help identify by the coat. The photo is very focused, but does have some condition issues. What makes you think it might be a Brady?

 

Thank you, and that is a beautiful photo you posted!

 

Jerry-Here's a fairly scientific article on Ambrotypes-
https://www.lisaduncanllc.com/pdf/duncan_technical_study_ambrotype1.pdf
I couldn't find much re dating reg ambro vs. ruby ambro-good luck !

 

Ambrotypes were done on glass, using essentially the same collodion emulsion as tintypes. A regular ambrotype was done on clear glass, and appeared as a negative image until a dark backing was applied to the reverse of the glass. The backing could be either a dark varnish or paint, or the image could be cased against a black cloth. A ruby ambrotype was done on dark glass, so it didn't need a dark backing to be viewed as a positive. I've seen examples done on purple, black, or red glass.

I don't see anything to indicate that the image above is military.

 

I agree...

Yes...

The author of the following site (phototree dot com) has done a lot of research on dating all sorts of images. I've found his work especially helpful for dating images on paper. But I mostly collect those. He is not infallible, but his page about ambrotypes states

• Ruby-colored glass was used (dark green also, but is very rare) beginning about 1858. This eliminated the need to have a dark backing.

http://phototree.com/id_amb.htm

Ambrotypes disappeared from use by the late 1860s.

 

Ditto Frank re: The Military connection (or not).

 

Only that he was very active in the East, and his photographs were well focused, exposed an' processed, as well as quite revealing of the character of the sitting subject. The flip side to my bias is the lack of any staging of the subject...it's almost a snapshot!