Ambrotype Photo

in Union Case

©  Copyright: For permission to reproduce, please contact peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk

Here is an ambrotype photo housed in a Union Case.  These cases were commonly used for ambrotype photos from the mid 1850s to the mid 1870s.

The left-hand side of the case above is made from velvet.  The metal around the photo is pinchbeck, a soft gold-coloured alloy.

The photographer is sometimes named on the back of the photo, but not in this case.

©  Copyright: For permission to reproduce, please contact peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk

This is the manufacturer's label, printed on silk.  It can be found by removing the sandwiched ambrotype photo with its glass cover from the frame above.

©  Copyright: For permission to reproduce, please contact peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk

Here is the outside of the union case above.  This case is made from a compound of shellac and sawdust, which could be moulded into elaborate patterns, as in this case.