Last post featured daguerreotypes, and this post ambrotypes. It is easy enough to tell the difference, as a daguerreotype looks positive or negative depending on the angle, while ambrotypes look positive no matter the angle. I found photographing these frustrating (glare, reflections, etc) but tried to get acceptable views. I seemed to get better, clearer, shots of the daguerreotypes.

One reason to get digital records of these is they are fragile. It is amazing, to me, that these have been passed down in my family for this long, surviving intact. When I opened the largest ambrotype, the glass image started to fall out of the case! I almost had a heart attack. Imagine me shattering it after all these years! I did not, but a good reason to get a photograph of it now.

The ambrotype process began about 1855 and was popular for about 10 years. Most of the cases have a leather feel to me, except one feels different and may be a “union” case. These are unknown people related to me somehow. They can be dated about 1855 to 1865. Here is a photo of all of them; note the the various sizes. Some are missing the velvet side of the case. And one is wrapped, but with no case at all.

Here are individual photos. The top hat or high hat was popular during this time.

Could the following photo be the same woman as the above photo? They have a similar look. However, from what I’ve read people did not typically have multiple photos taken of themselves. Note the glass is cracked in this one. (I didn’t do it!)

The next two were very hard to photograph. The woman’s picture seems fading, or not as distinct on the glass. This was the best I could get, with a flash. The man’s right hand looks oddly placed to me, but I guess it is just the pose for the photo. Note his necktie. Elaborate neckties were popular in the mid 1800’s.

And finally this lovely large ambrotype of a woman in a hoop skirt. Hoop skirts were popular in the same years as the ambrotype, reaching their height of popularity in the late 1850’s.

That is all. Next post will feature the tintypes.