Quarter Plate

TINTED STRIPES! Was he copied from another original quarter plate daguerreotype? Even looking at the naked plate I wasn?t 100% certain. The sharpness of the nap on that furry hat and the keenly rendered details in the white column would lead anyone to believe this was the initial effort. However, it is obvious the very cute kid moved during the exposure, but there was an odd graininess to the silver that sometimes is evident in a reproduction. Yet . . . the man?s chemistry that particular day in the late 1840s might have been deficient. Impossible to know for certain. The light entered the space from directly overhead. I am curious why his hand on that headgear was so white, while his face and other hand were a mid-gray tone. A curious little boy?s likeness with patina, mat scrapes and mold spiders. The nice leather case has a repaired hinge and a single maple leaf embossed inside on the burgundy cushion.