Sixth Plate

IF . . . You like mysteries, NO not the spinning backgrounds behind the girls, but rather the inscription written in the copper on one of the gal’s sixth plates, that both have new archival seals, then the pair might be for you. Casey and I have attempted to decipher the scrawling prose and here is what we are certain of: “May 1851 May 1 1851 Dec. 5th 1850 was 16 years old”. The remainder of the text is difficult to determine. That was scratched on the plate presenting the lass who did NOT wear the watch key suspended from a cord wrapped around her neck. Since the ladies were similarly attired and do have a facial resemblance, I believe that they must have been sisters. Visually speaking those whirling backgrounds were awesome, isolating each lass while creating wonderful light, shade and apparent motion behind the stationary subjects. The girls were taken by a man who knew how to produce beautiful daguerreotypes. Although it is interesting to mention that the teenager who was sweet 16 when she was portrayed has vertical buff marks and more traditional horizontal polishing on her silvery mirror. Her companion was done in the regular manner. Both likenesses have a superlative range of mid-tones, crisp white collars and cuffs and rich blacks in the darkest regions of their images. Their brooches and rings were expertly picked and toned with gold to provide extra sparkle. Not that these plate, each aged perfectly with fine oxidation hugging the undulations of the brass mats, required any addition help since the surfaces are holographic. There are mat scrapes across the bottom of the teen?s example. They are kept side by side in a leather case with a repaired spine.