Posted 6 years ago
themuse
(37 items)
Last group of cabinet cards that I think may be 1870s or earlier from the Topping Album. All three are from the same photographer. Thanks for any dating help!
Martha Topping Photo Album dating help Prt 4b: Cabinet Cards | ||
| Unsolved mystery items20384 of 96465 |  |  |
First these appear to be carte de visites and not cabinet cards-- are they about 2 1/2" X 4"? A cabinet card is larger-- about 4 1/4" X 6 1/2".
Glad to see them out of the album and would date them to the 1870s.
The real prize of these views is that the subject of the first card. He is a photographer! The signature on the front with "artist" would lead me to believe that he IS the "Adams" in the Mosby & Adams partnership.
Martha may be his wife-- census searches may confirm his profession and family.
I still believe the image of Martha is a copy image of an earlier view (softer focus/ slightly vignette view), so she may have died before the 1870s.
scott
According to Langdon's List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers there was a JW Adams in Culpeper VA who worked as a photographer....and Ive been searching for painters using that name!
PS. Martha was born a Topping, so the relationship to Topping for Adams is by marriage
Is a photograph of a photographer pretty rare?
ADAMS, J. W.
Adams, J. W., photographer, Coleman near Davis, Culpepper, VA (1871-1872) Boyd's Virginia State Business Directory
Doesnt give the full range of years he was in business
A photo of a photographer isn't rare, but they are desirable.
The fact that these are Southern images also enhances desirability.
scott
If only he had a camera in this image!
Here is a photo that I have of a Civil War era Virginia (West) photographer:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/246348-early-west-va-photographer-with-cameras
scott
Sorry I disappeared for awhile, work got hectic. Just wanted to thank you for all of your help
Update on the album...it has made its way back to Virginia and is in the hands of a collector who knows people from this family, and will make the pictures available to them