Quarter Plate

I AM MIFFED! Look at the kid’s hands and part his/her arm! WHY were they so much darker than the rest of both arms? There was no shadowing that created the discrepancy or a drop off in the light, since the dress retained an even tonality. Nor was there a chemical disruption because it was only the child’s flesh. Naturally, father might have had florid dark flesh tones from working outdoors. Have you ever seen a parent more uncertain, on the verge of being uncomfortable in a resealed quarter plate daguerreotype? I would be foolish to tell the next collector that the striations seen primarily in the darkest areas of the contrasted dag were “buff marks”. Unfortunately some unknown hand wiped the surface very lightly while cleaning the silver. The great news is though, when the angle of few reveals the explosive reflected depth and wide range of tones, those marks are invisible. There are also mold spiders and re-tarnish visible. The leather case is apart.