Sixth Plate

“TAKEN BY WADE” . . . Was part of the inscription done on the copper side of the couple’s sixth plate daguerreotype that has new glass and an archival seal. The rest of the information reads, “Likeness of JA & Gabriella (?) Emerson . . . in Shanesville Ohio Sept. 24th 49”. The bottom of their leather case has a popular mid-1840s geometric theme embossed on it. The cover is missing. That odd paper mat was used circa 1840 to 1845. Surely a young woman would NOT have worn that particular style of dress after the mid-1840s. I have searched for the elusive Mr. Wade but no one by that last name was operating anywhere as a daguerreotypist. Since Shanesville was a one-horse town southwest of Canton Ohio and later incorporated into Sugar Creek, I feel confident in saying that the maker was definitely an itinerant with moderate skills. The lovebirds were posed in front of that small table with a tinted cloth. Casey mentioned that might have been the actual leather case, with a silk pad inside (another indicator that the dag is actually earlier then the date) placed in front of them that they selected for this likeness. Most of the blue dots aren?t too obtrusive. Patina and mold spiders plus some stains above the pretty gal?s head are on the silver. The wrinkles in the backdrop certainly were also indicative of a traveling man using his camera to earn a meager wage.