A picture may be worth a thousand words. But if you know what to look for these days, a picture also could be worth a thousand bucks.
Within the realm of collectibles, few items possess more appeal than a fine vintage photograph. Since 1827, when Frenchman Joseph-Nicephore Niepce produced the first permanent photographic image, photographs have jostled our memories and enhanced the spirit. They remain treasured mementos in the conscience of the photo aficionado, collector or not.
A photograph need only be seen to evoke a sense of aestheticism. But to understand the manner images are made can be a highly technical endeavor. The methods of producing an exposure are varied.
Such variety is a boon to collectors. For whether one’s taste runs to diminutive images inherent to daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes and cartes de visite, or to the larger cabinet photos, calotypes and silver or platinum prints, the time is ripe to begin compiling a family album of collectible photographs.
Larger photographs will be the subject of a future collectibles column. This discussion will focus on that specialized niche of precious hand-sized photographs produced from 1839 until about 1867.
THE DAGUERREOTYPE
Two years after Niepce’s astounding achievement with light-sensitive imaging, the photographer formed a partnership with Parisian artist Louis- Jacques-Mande Daguerre. With Niepce’s death in 1833, it was Daguerre who succeeded in perfecting the world’s first practical photographic process, called the daguerreotype.
A true daguerreotype is an image produced on a silver-coated copper plate using iodine as the sensitizing agent and mercury as the developing agent. By 1840, the first daguerreotypes were being produced in studios throughout France. And by the time of the French Product Exposition in 1844, the daguerreotypes of nearly 1,000 fledgling photographers were exhibited.
Casual antique collectors know the daguerreotype mostly as a portable likeness — a pocket-sized image under glass within a leather or thermoplastic case lined with velvet and edged in gilt foil.
Educated photo collectors, however, feel their pulse quicken when they spy a cased image. One never knows the gem that might be inside. Knowing what to look for can mean the difference between a $5 “stock” daguerreotype or the portrait of a famous person worth $10,000 or more.
Even though the reign of the daguerreotype was less than three decades, many beautiful examples await the wary and patient collector. Record prices in excess of $30,000 have been paid for individual daguerreotypes at auction. At a 1988 Sotheby’s auction, a group of 11 daguerreotypes brought more than $50,000.
A common portrait (many are found in hand-tinted color) of an unknown individual in clean condition generally fetches about $30. But images containing children, flowers, hats, spectacles, canes, toys and musical instruments command a premium. Portraits of ethnic types — black Americans, Asians, etc. — also are scarce. Civil War images are in fervent demand by collectors, generally bringing $100 or more.
Portraits of children and pets are especially desirable. Such images were rare a century ago because the subject had to sit still for five to 30 minutes in front of the lens to achieve an exposure.
Also tough to find are landscapes and architeUlysses S. Grant were found in a trunk in an abandoned barn in New York. In 1973, a sharp portrait of writer Edgar Allan Poe brought an impressive $9,250.
Pieces bearing the photographer’s studio stamp, such as Matthew Brady, are nearly impossible to find.
AMBROTYPES, TINTYPES
Often confused with daguerreotypes, but no less fascinating or potentially valuable, are ambrotypes and tintypes. Like their next of kin, each is housed in a leather or heat-molded plastic case.
Introduced about 1854 and last made at the end of the Civil War, an ambrotype is a negative image produced on a glass plate, viewed as positive by the addition of black backing. Silver nitrate and pyrogallic acid are the developing agents.
Also of the same vintage is the tintype, a negative image made on a thin iron plate and viewed as a positive because of an undercoating of black varnish. Tintypes were the last cased photographic images made, although various forms of the tintype were produced until about 1930. The ambrotype and tintype were invented to replace the paper-negative process.
Again, unusual images in either technique are the photos to look for. But attractive ambrotypes and tintypes are generally cheaper and more readily available from dealers and at flea markets.
PHOTO CALLING CARDS
The exact origin of the so-called carte de visite photograph is not known. The format did not come int apart and glued on calling-card-sized mounts. A tiny portrait could be left by a visiting friend, thus inspiring the name in French meaning “visiting card.”
Because of their extensive use, the chances of cherry-picking a famous face from a batch of cartes de visite are much greater than from among the other small forms of photos. Images of the English royal family can be found, along with other celebrities. I recently purchased a marriage photo carte de visite of Tom Thumb and his wife, Livinia, performers employed by famed circus man P.T. Barnum. The piece cost $20.
Most carte de visite collectors are subject collectors. They’ll paw through dusty boxes of largely worthless cartes for a single elusive image of a child with a doll, a theatrical image or a nameless Civil War soldier. Not long ago, a carte image of Confederate Col. John Mosby sold for $880. Other collectors watch for prints with stamps by Brady, Nadar, Sarony, Disderi and other well- known shutterbugs.
Of special interest are cartes de visite in an album. In 1978, a seemingly commonplace album of cartes de visite sold at auction for $2,200. The album contained 1 performer Tom Thumb and his bride, Lavinia.(COLOR)
Clean photographs of anonymous subjects generally fetch about $30.(COLOR)
Antique portraits of children are rare because the subject had to sit still for up to 30 minutes.(Staff photo/JACKIE BELL)
