“Mrs. Aarmlia Yenant”! That appeared to be the name the woman’s “sister Jamestown NY” wrote on a brown scrap of paper still pinned to the red silk pad inside a complete leather case with a bouquet of posies pressed into the cover. A weird geometric/Arabesque design was on the reverse. The daguerreotypist, possibly John C. Gray, who worked in that town that is situated at the eastern end of Lake Chautauqua in western New York, was the earliest operator listed in Craig’s Daguerreian Registry. Books were piled high on the tinted tablecloth so Aarmlia could comfortable place bent fingers against the side of her pretty face. With those poignant eyes and ample lips her expression was rather seductive! Was that a decorative photo case she held in her hand? I wonder if the operator was also the expert who tinted that wonderful vase of flowers? The colorist also added pigments to Aarmlia?s flesh tones and gold paint to her jewelry. There is delightful depth on the surface of this resealed sixth plate dag. Pale patina has formed in the shape of the scalloped brass mat. The time passage has barely marred the silver.
