[Miniature Tintype Portrait Album]. 1880 [?]. >>Phantasmic miniature tintype album<<

11 black and white formal Victorian head and shoulder portraits - 8 males, 2 of them with hats; 3 females, one with a bonnet. Several of the men have a - perhaps borrowed -starched collar but no ties, and one has a thin chain with a horseshoe pendant. The women are not wearing or at least not making a show of having any jewellery in the shots. This album appears to have been a relatively cheap indulgence for a family of diminutive prosperity; as such, its survival today is unexpected amd slightly uncommon. Dated '1880' in pencil on reverse of first photographic image. Some slight deterioration, oxidation and crackling on the slightly reflective top layer. In heavy card frames, each with ribbons, garlands, borders, and an 'X' above the oval apertures. One aperture at the back is vacant. 44 x 35 mm. Contemporary full dark chocolate morocco with original simple brass clasp and catch plate; blind embossed mitred covers.

Inexpensive, and quick, ferrotypes became known as “tintypes” due to the tin-like feel of the metal base -popular at fairs and with the stigma of being “lower class” photographs - and successor to the ambrotype. The first tintypes were in 1849, so the date  of 1880 for this album is perfectly credible. The metal base layer is most likely a very thin iron plate, coated with a binder layer of collodion and an image material layer of silver nitrate. The exposure process would have taken from several seconds to a few minutes; the resulting photographs are sharp images despite a low colour contrast.