Mystery man

My parents sent a nice package last week with some old family things, and I was happy to have these photographs of our maternal grandmothers to scan.  I guess I'm becoming the family photo archivist by default, and it's been fun organizing some of our old photos in Aperture. 

The pretty woman above is my mother's mother Anna. She was born in Germany around 1900 and came to the United States in about 1923. She knew my grandfather Herman before she left Germany, and they got married shortly after arriving here. 

That picture was probably taken before she left Germany, since they would have been too poor for things like studio portraits when they first arrived.  Herman and Anna had to work off the debt they owed to an uncle in Philadelphia who fronted for their ship passage.  Basically, they were indentured servants to him for several years until they were free to make their own way in America. They worked hard their entire lives-- the familiar story of many European immigrants.

 

And this is my father's mother, Katie, who was born around 1885.  She was lovingly known to everyone in her large family as "Grammy" and she lived her entire life on the same Pennsylvania farm.

Grammy's wedding portrait was encased in this embossed leather folding box. The edges of the picture had apparently been trimmed off to fit the gold oval mat.


Her photograph is over 100 years old, but the leather travel case is even older. These date back to Civil War days.  It still has its perfect, tiny working metal hinges.

I found this similar one on Etsy.com for $100, and it isn't even in good condition! These folding cases were originally made to display and protect metal daguerreotypes and other antique photographic images.

Daguerreotypes were invented in France in 1839 and became extremely popular.  In just about any town in America, a person could be immortalized for about $5 (quite a bit of money then) on a slip of silver that was framed with a rich gilt mat and pressed into a fitted case covered with leather.

The likenesses were not always flattering, but daguerreotype images were the first photographic images with true brilliance and clarity. Superstitious people thought they were "mirrors of truth" with the ability to reveal the soul.  Ghost stories were written about daguerreotypes, like Hawthorn's The House of Seven Gables. The reflections on the shiny plate made viewing difficult, which I suppose added to the spookiness.

Because they were so delicate, they had a glass covered frame or hard case. There were several other types of antique photographic images that get confused with true daguerreotypes, particularly ambrotypes and tintypes.

However, the distinguishing characteristic of a daguerreotype is the image is on a bright mirror-like surface of metallic silver, and it should appear either positive or negative depending on the background lighting conditions reflected in the metal.


Anyway, getting back to the story of Grammy's photograph.  I had to carefully dismantle the delicate old frame in order to remove the little picture for the flat bed scanner.  I'm not a conservator, but I'm sure the frame hadn't been opened since the day her portrait was snipped and put in.

Now comes a surprise and the mystery, just like Antiques Roadshow.  When I turned over the reverse side of the perfectly fitting metal back, I was amazed to see a man's faint image looking back at me on a thin, delicate piece of silver.

This is surely the original daguerreotype (or tintype) portrait that was made for the case! And who is this stern old gentleman? Perhaps our great-grandfather? There seems to be a slight resemblance to Grammy's side of the family.

My dad reads the blog every morning, and maybe he can shed light on this wonderful mystery.