Sixth Plate

A DAG SNAPSHOT! The most amazing daguerreotype that showed a wicked candid kid on a re-cleaned and resealed sixth plate. This shy bouncy little boy was a triumph on silver! He most likely was taken along the wooden sidewalk next to the daguerreian’s studio or on the porch of his home by an itinerant operator. If you view the naked plate first, that slice of black on the left was the lad’s dad no doubt and the wooden apparatus on the right was a reflector support of sorts I suspect. Why was he barefoot you might inquire? Maybe his family couldn?t afford shoes??? What kind of a squirming animal did he hold in his tiny hands? It might have been a kitten, or a chipmunk or a squirrel. Erin and I both wondered if it was an optical illusion or was the moving child really leaning towards the left. He was doubtlessly freestanding with no head or body restraints behind him. Aside from the layers of re-tarnish that wouldn?t quickly disappear and there are also several fingers of stains on the silver, and a few curious specks. The surface was harshly polished and those filthy feet along with the boards in the foreground were sorta in focus! Casey has made a new leather spine to complete the case.