UNIQUE ANTIQUE FIND......

ANCESTORS IN TINTYPE......

This is a Tintype photo that I found in an old trunk, that belonged to my mother.

The lighthaired man on the top left, I believe to be, my greatgrandfather. He would have been my mother's grandfather, on her father's side. He would be my mother's, father's father.

This old Tintype has held up well through the many years of hand-me-downs and old trunks.

The other men in the photo, I can only guess to be related, as well. Maybe they are brothers....or maybe brother's and sons....I'm not sure. Actually....I have no clue.

I do know this much.....

Without them....I'm not here.

They are my ancestors.

Below.....I have added other Tintypes that I have found, by searching the Web. I found them to be extremely interesting, as well.

(The comments that are included with the Tintypes below are not those of my own.)

Tin-Type Portrait of Two Women
Turn-of-the-Century (1900s)

The original tin-type of this image isn't as clear as the "Couple at Sylvan Beach", shown below this one. Check out the relaxed pose and the not-quite-supressed smiles. I think there's something going on between these two.

Couple at Sylvan Beach, New York
Turn-of-the-Century (1900s)

These women strike me as more than just friends, and something about their comfort with each other's bodies--well, as much comfort as you can get in a corset--is touching. Note the position of their hands.

The tintype, also known as a ferrotype, was produced on a metallic sheet (not, actually, tin) instead of glass. The plate was coated with collodion and sensitized just before use, as in the wet plate process. It was introduced by Adolphe Alexandre Martin in 1853, and became instantly popular, particularly in the United States, though it was also widely used by street photographers in Great Britain.

That this process appealed to street photographers was not surprising:
the process was simple enough to enable one to set up business without much capital.
It was much faster than other processes of the time: first, the base did not need drying, and secondly, no negative was needed, so it was a one-stage process.

Some tintypes that remain are somewhat poignant. The one shown here is of a child who has died. If this seems bizarre, it would seem to have been quite a practice in the last century.


In fact, the original name for Tintype was "Melainotype." It is perhaps worth adding that there was no tin in them. Some have suggested that the name after the tin shears used to separate the images from the whole plate, others that it was just a way of saying "cheap metal" (ie non-silver).


The print would come out laterally reversed (as one sees oneself in a mirror); either people did not worry about this, or just possibly they did not discover it until after the photographer had disappeared!

Being quite rugged, tintypes could be sent by post, and many astute tintypists did quite a trade in America during the Civil War, visiting the encampments. Later, some even had their shop on river-boats.





Tranquillity Base................................................out