Photo date please?

[ZED]

Hi All ~

Please could someone estimate a date that this photo was taken?
The portrait is of Margaret Beaty (b. 1854). The image has been printed onto a round metal plate with a slightly convex surface ... apologies for the poor quality, but it doesn't scan particularly well.



Many thanks, in advance!

[jim1]

The type of photo you describe has a name but I can't think what it is at the moment but Prue will know.I believe it was a process developed in the 1880's which fits with the date of her dress/hairstyle,1880-3 I would suggest.

jim

[chinakay]

Crystoleum.

http://www.arthaul.com/2009/victorian-crystoleums-how-they-were-made/

Agree with Jim on the date of the clothing and hair style.

Cheers,
China

[PrueM]

Not a crystoleum as they're behind glass (sorry China  ) - this is a celluloid (cellulose nitrate) button.  I don't think there's a "technical" name for it...it's a paper photo placed behind a piece of clear celluloid.

I agree that the photo dates from the early 1880s.  I'm not sure when people starting making these one-off buttons, but mass-production wasn't until the 1890s, according to Wikipedia:

The first mass production of metal buttons [in the USA] dates to the 1896 William McKinley campaign for president with "celluloid" buttons with one side of a metal disk covered with paper (printed with the message) and protected by a layer of clear plastic.

So basically the button could be contemporary with the photo or it might be later.

Cheers
Prue

[chinakay]

Argh...I should read the post

But the post says it's a metal button...........

Hey, I have something like that...it's about 3/4 inch across:

Same thing?

[PrueM]

Yup, same thing China 

Metal button, paper photo placed on top, and covered with clear celluloid (which usually goes a bit yellow with age).

[ZED]

Thanks folks ... interesting.

I've seen similar photos for sale in antiques fairs.

Mine measures 6" across, and it is set into a circular piece of metal. There's a metal wire device attached to the back to enable it to be displayed. The whole thing is then clipped into a circular wooden frame (which I removed to enable scanning).

Curiously, stamped into the metal back it says: COLUMBIA MEDALLION STUDIO CHICAGO. However, Margaret Beaty was from Caldbeck, Cumbria, and I have found no reference to the family leaving the UK (or, in fact, Caldbeck!) Perhaps the metal contraption was produced in the USA and used by photographers in the UK? (Seems strange though as there's no reason why such a simple device couldn't have been manufactured locally).

Bestest,
Paula.