Fuzzy Polka Dots

THE DARK CIRCLES! While the dusky eyed lass are housed in a classic Boston style black push button leather case, I just noticed that the retaped sixth plate was not electroplated. That is significant since both Southworth & Hawes and John Whipple, two of Beane Towne’s most professional daguerreian studios, favored double silvered mirrors. She visited her favorite daguerreian in the mid-1850s at a location unknown to me. Her maker was highly skilled in the art of producing fine dags with wonderful richness and deeply reflected brilliance. I was attracted to the girl because of the overall condition, her own very direct attachment with the camera and those marvelous black circles that adorned her plain dress. Were they cloth covered buttons or avant-garde decorative dots? Red blush was deftly painted on her cheeks and lips. The tiny mark on the girl’s nose is a mold dot; the remainder of the blemishes was part of her complexion. The hazy UFO and that line on the left are part of the broad patina.