Sixth Plate

“HILL”! Who was master Hill I asked myself while I watched him seated in that tiny chair holding some sort of thick pamphlet. If only the daguerreian’s focus had been on the kid’s eyes the depth of field might have permitted me to read the printing on the paper. There could have been a clue. I like the serious boy, who stared directly into the lens while his newly taped sixth plate was made before 1850. Remarkable brightness bathed two-thirds of his large face. Since the light was from the right the furrows created by his pleated shirt are well defined. The dag retains outstanding contrast and subtle wide-ranging mid-tones. The sharpest focus begins in the child’s hair above his ears. Because he was taken close up it is possible that a more accurate sharper portrayal couldn’t be made because of a deficiency in the camera and lens. That identification is written on a teeny lined piece of paper and pinned to the purple silk pad inside the repaired leather case. The dull orange circles you see in the scan are invisible to the eye when the child is studied. There are blue and white specks along with a couple mold spiders. I was ready to add the price until Casey found a companion sixth plate at Brimfield, with “Hill” written in the same hand and pinned to a smashing blue velvet pad inside the full leather case. He resealed it, insisted that the vignetted woman remain with the youth now that they were reunited and sold her to me. How best to describe the sensuous mist flowing across the bottom of the attractive woman’s prize? It elevated the subject inside the oval mat. Her astounding alluring eyes won’t stop looking directly at me while I write. Her heavy lips quiver as she attempts to smile, but the lens was capped seconds too soon. The range of the mid-tones is sensational! Although there is a teeny orange dot on her exquisite neck and some minuscule black specks in the drop, I still would consider the dag nearly perfect!