Posted 8 years ago
tintyper
(98 items)
This is a 1/9th plate ambrotype, located years ago at an estate
auction in eastern Virginia. Also found there was an image
of the same size of a soldier in gray. Were they related?
I could find no other reason to think that they were linked, and
I no longer have his photo, but I have a photo of the photo!
Her ambrotype has something scratched into the emulsion
at the rear of the photo.
Her initials, look like "E.K.W." and there is also "1858" and "1879".
Was this ambrotype taken in 1858, and did she die in 1879?
She is long gone, but we still see her face and wonder about who she was.
IF SHE DIED THAT YOUNG THAT IS HEARTBREAKING. a REAL BEAUTY TO DIE YOUNG AND DEPRIVE THE WORLD THE OF OF SEEING HER IS A DOUBLE WHAMMY. I LOVE HER LONG BRAIDS BEING DOWN FRAMING HER FACE INSTEAD OF PINNED UP. oops, sorry cap lock was on. I am blind in one eye and have some errors because of that occasionally. This is a magnificent early photo, and I really love seeing it. Thanks!! Lois
Lois,
I am happy if you enjoy seeing these photos.
If the image of EKW was made in 1858 when she was 26, and she
lived until 1879, then she would have died at age 47. In those days
people didn't usually live as long as they do today.
You have some trouble with your sight? My supervisor I used to have
for many years was legally blind, but we all said that she did not miss much.
I think that you probably do not miss much either.
Thanks for commenting, John
Yes 47. ahh " Hoy,Yo soy muy estupido " ( I am very stupid today) What was I thinking. And even 47 is too young. One good thing I like about CDV's you can often get a name, and even a date and place. Many times I do try to reach descendants--or churches at the town mentioned back of photo-- where records are kept, if town still exists. Once the Pastor I emailed printed the photo I sent and info and had it printed it in the Weekly Sunday Service Program" Would you believe I did make a match with a family that claimed that person?... ! I was amazed and happy to have found a distant relative. We both yelled "Bingo!"
I could be wrong by several years on that estimate of 47. It is hard to tell
about photos of people from such a distant time.
I am sometimes contacted by people online, who say that they are descendants
of identified soldiers that I have displayed. If possible I always
try to answer their questions about the photo, as much as I can. Like where
did I get it from, and where and when it was taken. I feel that I have to do
that because the long passed soldier would want me to, perhaps urgently.
I believe that too--I feel I need to try to find their proper place if there is good info.
I would want someone to do that for an old photo of mine if they could. Keep a family together.....hoping someone in that family cares to have it.
It is always nice to share INFORMATION and JPGS with descendants.
But, BEWARE there are cons out there who are after the item and have no connection with the original soldier! I have run into folks just looking to get an item on the cheap. I have friends with stories of wholesaling an item cheaply back to the family only to see it up for sale again at full retail!
scott
Scott is right. I have a CDV album with several soldier's photos in it,
and to break it up would ruin the album, and waste the effort to keep
it an important historical object. I would not sell any of it, even to family
of the subjects.
I had a family album of a huge Swedish Family going way back to cdvs to about 1920. Most taken in the same city. I gave it to my grandson 21, with the ORDER...Not to separate these people EVER. He understood why and vowed he would keep it "as is" together. I am freaky firm on that.
I would try, in the case of an important vintage photo, to ascertain some kind of info that they can trace to me on thr net, phone or mail they are really related and appreciative that I have something meaningful for THEM. But really, as said there are con artists out there for sure. As it happened I have made a few match ups--but not a whole lot. One I got from a still existent cemetery in a small, Illinois town. The headstones could be located by a mapping- the curator obliged-and I found someone and wrote to a relative, but never got an answer. I guess it can go the other way too. If you contact someone "cold"--they may think it is some kind of a scam. Well, as they say--"No good deed goes unpunished"