In this video, we will look at 12 beautiful antique tintypes
Last summer I was given a huge stash of antique photographs, and within that package was this envelope containing 12 old tintypes, including a few of the most unusual old portraits I’ve ever seen.
The donor told me that many of these photos came from a family photo album, so I assume that many of these people are related to each other.
I don’t know the identities of the models or the photographers, nor do I know the precise location, but most of the photographs were probably made in Duluth or Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Most of these were probably made in the 1870s, when tintypes were at their most popular.
Tintypes — also known as ferrotypes — were wet plate collodion prints shot directly onto a sensitized sheet of iron — not tin. The iron was prepped with a layer of black paint in a process called “Japanning” — after the nickname for Japanese black lacquerware that was popular then.
Because there was no negative and the image was made directly on the plate, most tintypes are reversed from how the scene actually looked. There were cameras with a mirror that would flip the image before shining it onto the plate, but I’m not sure how common those were.
I generally look for clues like which side the men’s buttons are on, or the direction of their watch chain.