Guide to Buying Antique and Modern Furniture: Why is Joinery Important?

Guide to Buying Furniture | George Nakashima

Beautiful butterfly joints in a large English oak burl and walnut table by George Nakashima (1905-1990). Auctioned for $204,000

How a piece of furniture is put together indicates how long that piece of furniture will stay together. For example, when I am shopping for a piece of furniture, I always check out the drawers and how they are constructed. Why chance having all your belongings fall out of your nightstand because the drawer bottom was stapled in and simply couldn’t hold together for very long?

Understanding how a piece of furniture was made before you buy can prevent you from having to replace or repair the piece. In the long run, this knowledge can save you money and time.

For centuries, craftsmen constructed furniture using hand tools and different methods of joining together the various parts to create a whole. Hide glue, nails, and wood joints were popular and practical methods used to hold a piece of furniture together.

Dovetail Joints

This is one example of dovetail joinery commonly used in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The dovetail joint functions to keep the parts together as the wood expands and contracts with changes in moisture and temperature.

Note the scribe line marking the joint line–this shows that the maker used hand tools. If you feel tool marks on the underside of the drawer, this means it was hand -planed. Machine -planed wood has a smooth surface and does not leave the ridges that hand tools leave.

With the advent of the industrial revolution in the 19th century, machines became a popular way to make furniture parts and join those parts together. Nobody expected to see the joinery, and it was typically seen as an engineering solution, not an element of design.

Through Tenon Joints

By the early 20th century (c. 1900) the Arts and Crafts Movement pushed back on the frenzy of the industrial revolution. Joinery came to the forefront and became a design principle offering strength, comfort and beauty.

As can be seen in this Arts and Crafts Morris chair, the through tenon joins the leg to the wide arm. The corbel below, which is joined to the post and supports the wide arm, provides additional support. In this chair, joinery is an essential element of the design. It’s exposed and not hidden.

Finger Joints

The 20th century continued to embrace exposed joinery not only for its strength but as a design element, as can be seen in this mid-century modern chair from Denmark.

The curvilinear chair back continues through to the arm. The use of a finger joint keeps the parts together, providing an elegant solution as well as strength and stability.

Butterfly Joints

The Studio Furniture movement started in the last quarter of the 20th century and is still thriving today. George Nakashima (1905-1990) designed his furniture based on the natural form of a piece of wood using minimal joinery. His sensitivity to the craft resulted in pieces where the wood seems to come alive. His daughter Mira Nakashima continues crafting furniture with the same intuitive gift.

This is a fine example of furniture crafted by George Nakashima. A slab of old growth burled hardwood became the table top, and the natural fissure in the wood is held together with a butterfly joint. This functional joint provides minimal ornament. The through joint at the base provides strength and support for the large free edge top.

If you are shopping for a piece of furniture, paying attention to the joinery can tell you a lot about how a piece was made, when it was made, and how long it might stay together. Good joinery and design stand the test of time.

The Stoneware Face Jug: A Treasure Hidden Away for a Hundred Years

Stoneware Face Jug, attributed to Bath, (Aiken County), South Carolina, area, second half 19th century, Auctioned for $56,287.50 on March 5, 2012

When I first set eyes on this face jug, it was tucked inside a glassed-in bookcase alongside dishes, books, and other everyday things. I took it out, and said, “This is terrific! It’s beautiful!”

Beautiful might not be the first word that comes to everyone’s mind when looking at a grotesque face like this one, but I knew the jug was something special. I loved the diminutive size—it fit in the palm of my hand—plus the fact that it survived from the 19th century with no damage. It wasn’t even dusty.

It wasn’t until we’d taken the jug back to Skinner Auction House when specialist Karen Langberg found a note tucked inside the jug that read, “Monkey Jug= made at Bath S.C. 1862 by negro slaves/Aiken S.C.”

I asked the consignor about her great-grandfather who had collected the jug and written the note. We learned that he had most likely acquired it in the late 19th or early 20th century, just a few decades after the piece was made. The fact that he saw fit to acquire this unique example of an African-American face jug shows a developed aesthetic sensibility. The fact that the jug survived all this while undamaged is miraculous.

Further research into the history of the jug led us to two articles from the 2006 issue of Ceramics in America, published by the Chipstone Foundation. In the article titled “Fluid Vessel: Journey of the Jug,” pp. 93-121, John A. Burrison discusses the history of early Southern face vessels made by enslaved African-American potters. He proposes that face jugs like the one we discovered were likely influenced by anthropomorphic clay vessels made in West Africa, the chief source of the Atlantic slave trade.

A related article in the same issue titled “Making Faces: Archaeological Evidence of African-American Face Jug Production,” by Mark M. Newell with Peter Lenzo, pp. 122-138, discusses the origins and use of pottery face vessels. The article states that the larger face jugs were used “as water vessels called ‘monkey’ jugs-after monkeyed, a southern term for the dehydrating effect of the summer heat.”

Small jugs such as the one sold at Skinner have aroused curiosity as to their use, as they were so small that they would not hold much liquid to quench a thirsty person. The Newell and Lenzo article also mentions the 1909 interview by early American historian Edwin AtLee Barber with a South Carolina plantation pottery owner, Colonel Davies, who commented that the small jugs were used by the slaves “for their own purposes,” inferring a connection between the jugs and possible religious or ritual practices.

Although the original purpose of the jug may remain a mystery, the fact remains that it’s a wonderful piece of sculpture with an amazing story. It was one of my personal favorites in the March 4, 2012 American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction at Skinner, and I’m thrilled with the $56,287.50 price realized.

A Rare Dutch Colonial Portrait Survives from the Early 18th Century

Rare Dutch Colonail Portrait by The Gansevoort Limner

The Portrait of Elizabeth Van Dyck Vosburg will be sold on March 4, 2012 in the Skinner American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction in Boston as lot 216, estimated between $200,000 and $300,000

The Portrait of Elizabeth Van Dyck Vosburg is one of the ultimate rarities: a unique and early example of American naïve painting from the early 18th century. This oil-on-canvas work was painted by an artist widely known as The Gansevoort Limner, who some scholars believe was a Dutch-born immigrant named Pieter Vanderlyn. Whatever the case, this artist was prolific in the period from about 1730-45 in the area that would become New York State.

Enough is known about the provenance of this particular painting that it is identified as showing Elizabeth Van Dyck at the time of her marriage to Martin Vosburg in 1725. That date certainly makes it one of the earliest known works by the artist, and one of the earliest attributed American paintings of any kind still in private hands.

Known works by The Gansevoort Limner number less than two dozen and most of these are housed in public collections, notably the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Besides its incredible rarity, this folk portrait differs from similar works thanks to its singular state of its preservation. It has never been lined (a process done usually to stabilize the original canvas), and, remarkably, still retains its original black-painted frame in the Dutch style 287 years later! Minor, scattered spots of repaint exist to strengthen the original paint layer in places, and there are several minor patch repairs, though all were done with a very careful hand. The back of the canvas, the pine frame, and the stretcher all exhibit the characteristic blackening caused by nearly 300 years of oxidation — something we love to see — and a clear indication that the painting is still in its original presentation. We’re seeing it just as the artist intended it to be presented in the early 18th century.

Back of Dutch Colonial Portrait by The Gansevoort Limner

The oxidation of the back of the canvas shows the painting's great age

Elizabeth Van Dyck was christened in April 1697, in Albany, New York, the second of her parents’ eight children. We see her here, at the age of 28, half-length, standing and facing to her right. The thumb and forefinger on her right hand delicately pinch the stem of a flower blossom, and her left hand clutches a patchbox with the initials E and M – hers and that of her husband, Martin, presumably upon the occasion of their marriage.

The overall look of the work is one of folk art, and The Limner’s oeuvre is indeed “folky.” His paintings typically present flattened representations of his sitters and surroundings, and he worked in a semi-itinerant manner outside the realm of academically trained painters. Both traits are highly characteristic of folk artists in the 18th century.

When one places the artist and his sitters in historical context, The Gansevoort Limner’s works speak equally strongly from this perspective as well. The marriage between Elizabeth and Martin was a union between two Dutch families in the Hudson River Valley. The portrait of Elizabeth exhibits a pure Dutch influence which, later in the century, would attenuate and disappear as the settled Dutch of what would be New York State began to lose their identity. The portrait of Elizabeth stands as a testament to a moment in Colonial America’s history when settlers from Holland were among the most influential residents in the future United States – a fact often forgotten in modern-day discussion.

Accompanying the work is the 1702 Amsterdam-printed Van Dyck family Bible which includes family papers dating to the 18th and mid-19th centuries. The Van Dyck papers provide a wonderful a snapshot into their lives. One document is the early pen and ink family register, listing marriages and births, and written in Dutch. An additional document, from 1868, is a lithographed (mass-produced) marriage certificate of a Van Dyck family wedding. By then the early 18th century Dutch colonists had become a well-assimilated, late 19th century American family.

Much of what had made the Dutch unique when Elizabeth was painted – especially the connection to the material culture of their homeland that Elizabeth embodies – had disappeared into the melting pot that was the post-civil war United States. Taken together, the Bible and papers help to tell the specific story of the painting’s history, the history of the Van Dyck family, as well as the larger story of Dutch assimilation in America.

This is the earliest American portrait Skinner has ever offered and we are delighted to be able to present the painting at auction this weekend. The opportunity to own an American painting made in 1725, having survived in a nearly untouched state of preservation, comes along rarely. Stop by the Boston gallery if you can – we’d be happy to show it to you!

Preview times:
February 29, 12 to 5 pm
March 1, 12 to 5 pm
March 2, 12 to 8 pm
March 3, 12 to 5 pm
March 4, 8 to 10 am

How to Buy Antique Furniture made from Wood, Part I

Choosing a piece of antique furniture for your home can be a genuinely rewarding experience, But it can also be a challenge to select the right piece with so many options and limited time to consider them. Many antiques are one-of-a-kind pieces and once someone else has snapped one up or it’s gone through auction, you’re out of luck. The best strategy is to understand exactly what you’re looking for before you go shopping.

Antique Wooden Furniture | George Nelson Chest of Drawers

If you want to buy a wooden dresser, you have a huge range of options. Which do you prefer: this modern chest of drawers by George Nelson, or this late 18th century tiger maple tall chest?

Here is the list of things I think about when I’m searching for antique furniture made from wood. I find the search is most successful when I have a solid idea in mind for two or three of these criteria, and then remain flexible for the rest. For example, I might know that I want a mahogany table with specific dimensions, but I’m flexible when it comes to style and finish.

1. What’s the purpose?

Ask yourself, why am I buying a piece of furniture? Perhaps the piece will have a specific function—you might need a new dining room table. Or maybe you want something decorative to go with the modern style of your new home.

2. Know your style

It can help narrow down the choices if you define the style you’re looking for, but I suggest keeping your mind open. Sometimes you’re drawn to the design of a piece without knowing why, and these are the purchases that will help to develop your unique, personal style.

3. What’s your budget?

Make sure you know how much you’re willing to spend before you start looking. This is especially important at auction, where it can be all too easy to get carried away and overlook the buyer’s premium. It’s also important to research the value of a piece of furniture so you can recognize if a piece is selling for a reasonable price.

4. Make sure it fits!

We’ve all made this mistake at least once. You go to a showroom or an auction preview and fall in love with a piece of furniture, and then you bring it home. And it’s the wrong size. Even after you remove a door to try to get it in the house, it still doesn’t fit! So be sure to write down the dimensions you’re looking for – height, length, and depth.

5. Look at the design of the whole room

Even if the piece of furniture fits physically into the space you have in mind, that doesn’t mean it will fit visually or artistically. Take pictures of any other pieces of furniture, rugs, wallpaper, or other accessories you plan to place in the same space. You can create a collage online using OlioBoard to see how everything works together before you buy.

6. Oak, walnut, or mahogany… what’s the difference?

Look at wood samples in a hardware store to help figure out which materials appeal most to you. Some common options are oak, walnut, mahogany, pine, teak, cherry, and other more exotic woods. Some of the pricier antiques you’ll find are made from historic old growth wood (that may even be extinct) rather than new growth wood.

7. How is the surface finished?

The surface of antique wooden furniture may be painted, stained, fumed, oiled, or lacquered. A surface in original condition is always of more interest to collectors. You’ll find both real wooden furniture and wood veneer, and it’s important to know the difference.

8. Consider the hardware

The knobs, hinges, and drawer pulls on a piece of furniture can change its whole appearance. Some historic pieces of furniture have handmade hardware and many antique furniture collectors find this quite appealing.

9. Recognize well-crafted joinery

Be sure to inspect the joinery on a piece of furniture. Failure to do this is like buying a car without looking under the hood. Joinery is important. It can make all the difference in the longevity of a piece of antique furniture. I’ll explain how to recognize different types of joinery in a future blog post.

10. What’s the story?

The great thing about buying antique furniture at auction is that pieces often comes with a story or history—who owned it, where and when it was made, and the historical trends that contributed to its style and design. The provenance of a piece of furniture can make a big difference in how much it appeals to collectors.

My colleagues and I would be happy to help you explore woods, joinery, historic styles, and more at a Skinner auction preview. After over forty years in the auction business, we have seen some of the most interesting pieces of furniture ever made.

My next few posts in this series on buying wooden furniture will cover joinery, finish, and different wood choices. Please leave a comment if you have a specific question about wooden furniture that you’d like to see addressed.

Auction Highlights, Part I: Rare & Desirable American Antique Furniture

You never forget the thrill when great antiques or fine art sell at auction. This post is the first in a series telling the stories behind some of the top highlights in Skinner auctions from the past decade. Through telling these stories, we hope to shed light on where the market has been and where it’s going now.

The Chippendale Mahogany Bombe Chest-on-Chest

American Antique Furniture | Chippendale Mahogany Bombe Chest-on-Chest

This Chippendale Mahogany Carved Scroll-top Bombe Chest-on-Chest sold for $1,766,000 in a 2003 American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction

Extraordinary American antique furniture never goes out of style. The elegant proportions and masterful craftsmanship of a fine piece of furniture in original condition will always attract interest and command high prices at auction.

Just under a decade ago, Skinner made history when we sold an 18th century Chippendale Mahogany Carved Scroll-top Bombe Chest-on-Chest for $1,766,000. This lovely example of the rare American furniture form was made in Boston or the North Shore of Massachusetts, and remained in very fine condition, retaining its old surface and original brasses. Stylistically, the piece most closely resembles one in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg.

The Chippendale Chest was one of the finest examples of American furniture I have found in my years of working in this business, and Skinner was truly privileged to have the opportunity to offer it at auction. It seems only fitting to me that after more than 200 years, it was auctioned in Boston — the city in which it was likely made.

The provenance of the chest is also notable. Family papers verify that the piece once belonged to Robert “King” Hooper, prominent Marblehead merchant and one of the wealthiest men in 18th century America. Hooper, through a series of provident events and strategic decisions, became a powerful force in the colonial fishing industry in Massachusetts, playing a vital role in providing cargo essential to the British “Triangle Trade.” A Loyalist during the American Revolution, Hooper subsequently lost the fortune he had amassed, but in the middle decades of the 18th century, his lifestyle and the home and furnishings he enjoyed had reflected that of British high society across the ocean.

It’s extremely rare to discover a piece of furniture this beautiful and pristine, but I know there are more out there. As an expert American antique furniture appraiser and regular on the Antiques Roadshow, I’m always on the lookout for the next great find. If you have a piece of antique furniture in original condition and would like me to take a look, please call and set up an appointment at 508-970-3299.

Favorite Auction Highlights of 2011, Part II: From Dwarf Clocks to Diamonds

2011 was a great year for fine art & antiques. Here is the second round of picks, and the reasons why we feel these items are important and worthy of recognition.

Read Part I to learn about a record-breaking folk art portrait, a stunning Art Deco bracelet, and a bottle of 1961 Petrus wine.

Antique Dwarf Clock

This remarkable family heirloom had been kept running for 80 years - Stephen Fletcher, Executive Vice President and Director of American Furniture & Decorative Arts

It’s always exciting to discover a beautiful object that is unknown to the collecting world. When I saw this perfectly proportioned dwarf clock on a house call in Beverly, Massachusetts, it was still running, and had been passed down in the same family for 80 years. At the moment we discussed the possibility of selling it, the clock struck twelve.

The clock was made by Joshua Wilder in Hingham, Massachusetts between 1821 and 1824, and is a true miniature of a tall case clock constructed in the same manner, and with a full striking movement. This places it in a category of being the most sought-after and desirable type of dwarf clock.

Mahogany and Mahogany Veneer Dwarf Clock, Joshua Wilder, Hingham, Massachusetts, Auctioned for $189,600 in the American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction on March 6, 2011

Rock Crystal Cup

Truly a royal item, this cup was probably made for the ruling court in the Mughal Empire in India – Kerry Shrives, Vice President, Director of Information & Technology

I love the exquisite carving on this Mughal rock crystal cup. It was most likely made in the 17th/18th century for the ruling court of the Mughal Empire in India, and then embellished in 1867 when the London jeweler Robert Phillips added a delicate gold, enamel and stone mounted foot-rim. The bowl reflects a mid-19^th century fascination with Greek and Roman antiquity. Phillips is known to have visited Rome in the 1850s on a study trip where he viewed period Roman works of glass, gold, and lapidary. Phillips exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle, and it is quite possible that this bowl was exhibited there. My favorite museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum has a number of similar cups in their collections.

Fine Yellow Gold, Cloisonne Enamel, and Stone-mounted Carved Rock Crystal Bowl, Auctioned for $201,450 in the European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction on October 14, 2011

Rare Ornamental Turning Lathe

This machine and collection of tools will provide a lifetime of discovery to a superb craftsman - Robert Cheney, Director of Science, Technology & Clocks

An ornamental turning lathe was primarily a “Gentleman’s” turning tool which could provide a lifetime education for the lucky owner. This remarkable early 19^th century machine and its many accessories allowed an educated owner to perform complex tasks on exotic woods and materials like ebony, teak, rosewood and ivory. This is my 2011 favorite because it is such a rarity to find an ornamental turning lathe with all the numbered accessories and fitted two-part mahogany tall chest. More importantly however, this is my favorite because it was sold to a superb craftsman who will spend a lifetime rediscovering all the attributes that make this machine so special.

Holtzapffel & Deyerlein Ornamental Turning Lathe and Accessories, Auctioned for $65,175 on July 16, 2011

Antique Diamond Necklace

Who kept this in her jewelry box at the turn of the century? - Melissa Riebe, Specialist, Discovery auctions

It’s hard to pick just one, but thinking back on things that really struck me this past year, one is this antique silver and rose-cut diamond necklace. The piece was beautiful in the catalogue, but seeing the necklace in person, I was, in a word, dazzled.

The delicate construction and brilliant stones started me thinking about what sort of a high-society woman around the turn of the century would have had this piece in her jewelry box. Was it a gift from her husband? A fellow member of the elite? A self-indulgent purchase? We’ll never know, but it’s fun to wonder!

Antique Silver and Rose-cut Diamond Necklace, Auctioned for $30,810 on December 6, 2011

Favorite Auction Highlights of 2011, Part I: Folk Art, Dragons, and Wine

2011 was a great year for fine art & antiques, and it wasn’t easy to choose favorites from all the wonderful items that came through our auctions.

Great works of art, historical items, and finely crafted objects leave a lasting impression on those who encounter them. At Skinner Auction House, we are thankful for the privilege and responsibility of caring for these objects.

Here are our picks, and the reasons why we feel these items are important and worthy of recognition.

Folk Art Portrait

This stunning picture of Abigail Rose broke the record for the sale of a folk art portrait at auction – Karen Keane, CEO

Extra accoutrement in portraits is always alluring. Abigail Rose sat in a Queen Anne chair holding a rose, next to a table with four books and a Battersea patchbox. The compelling complementary colors of green and red and the asymmetrical composition create an at once vibrant and peaceful scene. The painting, from 1786, is well-preserved, in original condition, and broke the record for the sale of a folk art portrait at auction.

American School, 18th Century, Portrait of Abigail Rose, North Branford, Connecticut, 1786, at the Age of Fourteen, Auctioned for $1.27 million in the American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction on November 5, 2011

Art Deco Bracelet

The fire-breathing dragon is such an unusual and delightful motif – Victoria Bratberg, Director of Fine Jewelry

Skinner sold so many beautiful things this year, but my favorite had to be this figural bracelet. I loved the fire-breathing dragons—made of diamonds and calibre-cut rubies—and the fact that it was a piece of American art deco jewelry. Most of the fine art deco jewelry we see is made in France, but this was an exception and a fantastic example. The bracelet descended in a prominent New York family, and was originally retailed by Thomas Kirkpatrick, & Co., New York.

Fine Art Deco Platinum and Diamond Figural Bracelet, Auctioned for $171,825 on December 6, 2011

1961 Petrus Wine

It was a thrill watching this major vintage sell so well - Don Kelly, CFO

Even though 1961 is a major vintage, it’s still amazing that one bottle of wine can sell so strongly. I’ve gotten more interested in wine over the past 6 or 7 years, and I now have a small collection of 30 or so bottles. I’m starting to be able to tell the difference between a good bottle and a great bottle, and I wish I could try a glass of this 1961 Petrus.

As quoted in the auction catalogue, “The 1961 Petrus was pure perfection,” and, “The wine is crammed with viscous, thick, over-ripe black-cherry, mocha-tinged fruit flavors. Extremely full-bodied, with huge amounts of glycerin and alcohol, this unctuously-textured, thick wine makes for an awesome mouthful. Imagine a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup laced with layers of coffee and cherry, and encased in a shell of Valrhona chocolate!” (R. Parker, 100 pts. 02/96)

Chateau Petrus 1961, Auctioned for $17,010 on November 8, 2011

Favorite Auction Highlights of 2011, Part II

Watch for the next post about a rock crystal bowl, remarkable dwarf clock, rare turning lathe, and antique diamond necklace.

Welcome to Crystal Bridges: A Brand New Destination for American Art

Steve Fletcher | Crystal Bridges Museum | American Art

Stephen Fletcher, Vice President and Director of American Furniture & Decorative Arts at Skinner, stands with the painting "Off to Auction" by Doris Lee, at Crystal Bridges museum

When you hear the names Rockefeller, Edward A. Whitney, and Henry Clay Frick, you immediately think about the great cultural and art institutions they gave to our country: Rockefeller University, the Whitney Museum, and the Frick. Now, a new name has been added to the list of institutions made possible through philanthropy: Crystal Bridges.

This strikes me very much as an American tradition: families or individuals who have amassed great wealth reach a point at which they want to give back to the country that afforded them extraordinary opportunities. Alice Walton and Walmart follow in this tradition by establishing the Crystal Bridges museum. The museum is devoted to American art and artists, and admission is free thanks to Walmart’s sponsorship.

I had the opportunity last week to attend the inaugural week opening ceremonies at the museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. In the galleries, fabulous 19th century romantic western landscapes stand in marked contrast to early 20th century modern masters. The range of art is incredible, and there’s a wonderful diversity of style and subject matter. They’ve taken great care to gather quality art by the best American artists, from the 18th through the 21st century. Just a few of the artists represented are John Singleton Copley, Albert Bierstadt, John Singer Sergeant, Norman Rockwell, Childe Hassam and Jackson Pollock.

I was fortunate enough to meet Alice Walton, who was exceedingly gracious and pleasant. She remembered Skinner and the painting we sold which now hangs in one of the galleries: a 19th century portrait of a girl and her dog in a grape arbor. It’s a wonderful painting, and I enjoyed visiting with it again.

I also met Moshe Safdie, the architect who designed the museum. I love the building. It’s a piece of bold and innovative modern architecture that integrates harmoniously into the rolling hills of the surrounding countryside. The superb gallery spaces are connected by pod-shaped arched rooms constructed of glass and wood – the so-called “crystal bridges” after which the museum is named. I asked Moshe, “What is it like to be sitting inside this beautiful room?” He gave two thumbs up and smiled.

On reflection, the total effect of this new museum is sublime. It was a privilege to be invited to participate in the opening, and I’m sure that Crystal Bridges museum will become a popular and important destination for American art lovers, tourists, and travelers.

How to Identify a Daguerreotype: 5 Considerations When Looking at Early Photography

How do you tell the difference between a daguerreotype, ambrotype, and tintype?

If you’ve been browsing through the Early Photography Collection of Rod MacKenzie, you’ve seen these three types of early photography many times. Each has an interesting history.

Here are five questions to ask the next time you’re trying to identify an early photograph:

1. Is the image reflective or mirror-like?

Daguerreotypes have a reflective surface, almost like a hologram. When viewed from one angle, a daguerreotype appears shiny and light, and from the other angle it is negative with a more matte finish.

2. Is the image whitish-gray with low contrast?

It could be an ambrotype or tintype. Neither will show the hologram effect of a daguerreotype.

3. Is the image on glass or metal?

Ambrotypes were developed on a glass plate, while tintypes were made on a thin iron plate. You can test to see if an image is a tintype by applying a small magnet to see if it attracts. However, this method is not foolproof. I’ve found a few ambrotypes that were backed with a metal plate which also attracted a magnet.

4. How is the image housed?

Daguerreotypes are typically found in a case sealed behind a thick piece of glass for protection, as the silvered image can be easily damaged.

5. What is the case made of?

The image’s case can tell part of the story as well. These cherished early photographs were usually placed in hinged wooden cases covered with embossed leather, and lined with silk or velvet facing the picture.

By 1852, an early resin-based thermoplastic case, which was called a Union case, was used. Case manufacturing became a booming industry itself with various manufacturers producing beautifully molded case designs, based on the works of Old World Masters to contemporary artists, prints, and other works of art. These cases can be just as collectible as the images they contain.

Rod MacKenzie’s collection will be sold in the American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction on October 30, 2011. Find out more about the stories behind the images, or view highlights from the collection.

Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes & Tintypes: The Rise of Early Photography

Lot 51: Quarter Plate Tintype of an Elegantly Dressed Standing Black Woman, Est. $300-500

The Early Photography collection of Rod MacKenzie has piqued the interest of everyone from experienced collectors to those interested in a glimpse of American history.

Looking at these images from our vantage point in the 21^st century, we can note with fascination how average people in the second half of the 19^th century actually looked and dressed. Before the development of photography, we could typically only observe the past in painted portraits, which depicted mostly upper middle-class and wealthy members of the populace.

Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes were the first three early photographic processes to gain widespread popularity. Developed in the mid-to-late 19^th century, each successive technique improved upon the others in availability, affordability, and processing speed. Despite these improvements, each process produced a unique, one-of-a kind image–the only one!

Daguerreotypes

Lot 100: Full Plate Daguerreotype Family Portrait, Est. $1,500-2,500

The daguerreotype, the earliest of the three photographic processes, came into use in about 1839. Daguerreotypes cost around five dollars (about a week’s wages), so they were not affordable for the majority of the people.

To make a daguerreotype, the photographer exposed an image on a sensitized silver-plated sheet of copper. This resulted in a polished silver surface that produced a shimmery image when developed.

The exposure time took anywhere from a few minutes to as long as 20-30 minutes for very large images. For portraits, in order to keep the person or persons from moving and thus blurring the picture, the photographer would place iron stands or armrests behind the sitters to help keep them still. If you look closely at these images, you can sometimes see the base of the stands behind the feet of the subject. You might also see a blur on the image from a wiggly kid or shaky aged hands.

The daguerreotype image is almost always reversed left to right, unless a mirror was used inside the camera. That’s why the insignias on the soldier’s belt buckles are backwards!

Ambrotypes

Lot 35: Half Plate Ambrotype of a Gothic Cottage with a Boy and Dog Sitting on the Porch, Est. $600-800

Developed in 1851, the ambrotype took over the popularity of the daguerreotype and pretty much displaced it by 1860. It was much cheaper to produce than a daguerreotype, could be made with a shorter exposure time, and you didn’t have to tilt the plate to see the image. The ambrotype made photography more affordable for middle and working class people.

Ambrotypes were made on a glass plate coated with a wet, light sensitive substance, which when developed and dried, produced a negative image. The negative then had to be mounted against a dark background or coated with a dark varnish to give the illusion of a positive.

Tintypes

Lot 57: Quarter Plate Vocational Tintype of Four Musicians, Est. $400-600

The tintype was developed in 1853 using a similar technique to the ambrotype. Called a collodion process, this technique requires the photographic material to be coated, exposed, and developed on site.

The tintype image, however, was mounted against a thin sheet of black-enameled (or japanned) iron instead of glass. Unlike earlier photographs, a tintype is unbreakable.

Interestingly, the term tintype is a misnomer. Because the iron they were mounted on was so thin, many assumed it must be tin, and the name stuck.

The entire tintype process was quick and cheap. Within a few minutes, the customer could take an image home with him at the cost of a penny or less at first.

By the 1940s, tintypes cost about 25 cents. Almost everyone could afford tintype pictures of their loved ones.

Photography has come a long way from these first three techniques. I wonder how it will continue to change and evolve over the next hundred years?

May 2012
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