3 in. x 2.5 in.
Wood, Glass, Fabric, Foil
Date Unknown
Collected by Nate Kammerer
Sometime between 1839 and the late 1850s, this well-dressed man slicked his spikey hair to one side and sat for a daguerrotype. The photographer precisely exposed a polished silver plate coated with the fumes of toxic chemicals and encased it in a decorative case.
Making a photograph in the mid-1800s was an expensive and time-consuming process—there’s a pretty good chance I have the only picture of him in existence.
I often wonder about who he was and where he ended up. Who carried around this small locket? How many hands did it pass through before showing up on my Facebook Marketplace feed?