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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: dansdottir on Monday 26 January 15 18:03 GMT (UK)
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This tintype has come down to me with things from my father's family. I have reason to suspect the two men might be brothers of my great great grandfather but it would help if I could get a date on the picture. Thanks for any help.
http://i.imgur.com/h3JRG7I.jpg
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Just posting this on the board so it's easier to see, and to bring the post back up to the top before it gets lost.
Tin types were most popular during the 1860s and 1870s but that's all I know.
I'm sure the dating experts will be along soon!
Quite an amazing photo.
Caz
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Thanks so much! I tried to post the picture directly, but it was too large, and my skills were not up to adjusting that without losing some of the picture.
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Glad I could help. :)
You need Jim1 or China to have a look at it for you as they are the resident dating gurus! :)
Caz
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This is slipping down the board again, so bringing to the top for dating.
Caz
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Thanks again. If it's just not interesting enough or have sufficient dating clues, that's okay.
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No don't think that...it's just that the dates probably haven't seen it yet.
Carol
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Thanks again. If it's just not interesting enough or have sufficient dating clues, that's okay.
It would purely be that Jim or China haven't spotted it yet, which is why I keep bringing it to the top as soon or later they will be around, or the best idea is to send Jim1 or China a pm, they won't mind at all.
Caz
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PS I'm fascinated by the photo, can't wait to hear what they have to say!
Caz
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I find it interesting, too. Why did these men choose to sit for their picture while wearing their coats and hats? The backdrop art looks to be in a similar fashion to another photo I have of my gg grandfather, so I wonder if it's the same studio. But my gg grandfather's pic is in photo form, not a tintype, and he's looking dapper in a nice suit, not wearing outerwear.
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I've not got the dating skill you need, just watching this one with interest. Wondered whether they might be fairly recent immigrants, something about the style of clothes?
Drosybont
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Drosybont,
Yeah, I'm no expert, so it's a layman's guess, but don't the hats look somehow Russian?
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Well, not much to date I'm afraid...men's fashion didn't change quickly but there are a few things to look for and I don't see any of them in this photo. Also, other clues we look for such as frame/backing, photographer's stamp, and tone are also missing because it's a tintype.
Another problem is that these men don't look western European so their clothing styles could be quite different from what was the norm in England and North America.
About the only thing I can say about this is that the style of the handpainted backdrop has an 1890s look to it, and that as this is a tintype the image is reversed. It will also be a unique image in that it is the actual negative, treated so it appears positive.
Sorry I can't give you much. Try pinging jim1, he's better at men's clothes.
Cheers,
China
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Chinakay,
Thanks a lot! I had a feeling it might be tricky to date. The clothes just look so ... generic, somehow. And, yeah, there's not a lot else -- no frame, studio name, nothing on the back. I think the style of backdrop looks really similar to this photo from the same side of the family, but it isn't dated, either, so. At least I know who it is -- my gg grandfather, which might indicate the tintype was also from Ohio or Indiana, since that's the area my gg grandfather lived in at the time that tintypes were a thing.
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Drosybont,
Yeah, I'm no expert, so it's a layman's guess, but don't the hats look somehow Russian?
That was my first impression too. I think Droysbont is on to something.
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Just looking at the photo again, they seriously look like they have just stepped off the boat. Both are sitting their with a bemused expression, taking it all in. Maybe their American cousin or sponsor decided to get a photo taken to commemorate their arrival! Sorry, vivid imagination, but if I had to write a story about that photo, that would be it! ;D ;D
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My first impression was that they were Russian too....I didn't like to say as no-one else appeared to think so....and the poster had said it was U.S. Having said that...I have Canadian rellies who wore those type of hats.
Carol
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I think their features are Eastern European, but who knows.
Caz
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Are the hanging ropework shelves present in both images a dateable element? I'm thinking here something that was in vogue during one decade but not later. I appreciate that dates the backdrop/furnishings rather than the photo. Don't recall noticing them much in other photos.
S_L
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I don't have any Russian or Eastern European ancestry, but then, I don't know that these men are relatives. The tintype was in a box in my uncle's garage along with other small items from his parents and his aunt. The second photo -- of my great-grandfather -- was also in the box. There was also another tintype which I posted here for dating a month or so ago, but which didn't share the same style of backdrop as these two do. It was also of my great-grandfather and three other people. I wonder how expensive tintypes were to have made or copied. If it was an expensive process, it seems this tintype of the two men must have mattered to someone in my family. But I guess they could have just been friends, not relatives.