Sixth Plate

DELICATE TRACERY! This remarkable resealed sixth plate daguerreotype had me completely stumped, but I knew that my long time friend, mentor and dag collector extraordinaire George Whiteley had a similar example and I asked him for his opinion. After discussing the woman?s portrait, George and I agreed that neither of us really knew how the image was made with 100% certainty. Here are some of our thoughts. We believe that a stencil done in this floral pattern was created on a dark opaque surface. The gal was daguerreotyped in a vignetted style that was done in camera during the exposure. Once the plate had been developed and coated with gold chloride, the stencil was overlaid on the original and re-daguerreotyped. Naturally the tinting of the flowers and the blue and red in the ?clouds? above the lass were done as the final step. What we can?t figure out though is the overall sharpness of the smiling gal?s likeness. IF our theory is correct. She was seated underneath a skylight. Her maker added gold paint to her brooch. There are teeny mat marks in a couple areas and several brown spots on the bright silvery mirror. A complete leather case completes this very rare package.