Sixth Plate

BOTH ?DOLLS? MOVED! Could a little girl have been more awestruck while she held her favorite companion for a newly sealed sixth plate that was previously professionally cleaned? The child and her toy had been placed in that small chair that had ?wooden hands? extended at the tips of the top rail. Maybe to keep the kid relatively still during the quick exposure the maker told her those appendages would wrap around her pretty face is she wasn?t good. She wore an amazing dress that must have been dyed in a rainbow of colors. I just realized that a small stuffed pillowed had been placed behind her head. And I am intrigued by the out of focus patterns on the carpet and especially those vertical bands of light and shade in the background. There was no hallmark on the curiously bent plate. Each side was crimped and bent up at a 90 degree angle creating a pan-like receptacle for the daguerreotype. The only white speck on the deeply reflective dag that might be bothersome is that teeny one above her eye. The superlative childhood keepsake is kept in a complete thermoplastic case that has a flora theme on both covers and a red plush pad printed with a geometric design inside.