Mar 31, 2016 - Sale 2408

Sale 2408 - Lot 114

Price Realized: $ 1,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION--PHOTOGRAPHY.) Pair of 1/6 plate Neff tintypes, more than likely depicting slaves: housed in a double blind-stamped leather case, with original clasps. A man with crutches across his lap, and a woman in "field" dress; slight wrinkle to the bottom quarter surface of the woman's image, otherwise both clear, crisp images. Np, circa 1856-1860

Additional Details

a rare pair of neff patent tintypes, showing a man and woman, possibly husband and wife. The man, dressed like a house servant, has a pair of crutches laid across his lap, and appears to be glaring into the photographer's lens. The woman, while appearing less angry, still looks like she'd rather not be there. The Neff patent process was actually developed by Hamilton Smith, an Ohio chemistry professor, who sold the patent to Peter Neff. The effect was a clarity normally found only in an ambrotype, but at half the cost. Neff's photographs were made between 1856 and 1860 or '61.