Sixth Plate

“MY MISTAKE!” The fellow’s chosen daguerreotypist immediately realized that his client was not happy when he saw the expression on the man’s face after he displayed his sixth plate before he sealed the package together. Or so he thought. Look carefully at the original letters and numbers written on the placard the subject held. They were backwards! Not wanting to lose a sale or go through the effort of preparing a second plate, the clever operator decided that a lavish amount of gold on the very primitively made surface just might satisfy his patron and money would flow in his direction. He walked back to the prep area, dipped his brush into gold gilt and rewrote ?Sept 1851!? I removed the original seal from the portrait that obviously pleased the gent. Don?t you wonder WHERE in rural America he was taken? I suspect his wife gave him the ?bowl? haircut that morning before he left to meet his maker! Or maybe the man operator visited their place and seated the chap in his own home? What a mismatched fancy polka dotted tie and that plaid vest. Certainly the best clothes the guy owned. Erin and I were discussing this dag and it dawned on us both that MAYBE the man was actually the daguerreotypist and he didn’t realize that his lettering would be laterally reversed! Whatever the story the image absolutely intrigues me. He is held in a complete leather case with a loose hinge.