Figure 1.--Unfortunately most ambrotypes were not dated. Ambrotypes can, however, roughly be dated to the 1850s, especially the mid- and late-1850s. But there were also many taken in the very early 60s before CDVs became well established. This boy's name was Ralph W. Maxwell. He was photographed in August 1861 at Haley's studio in Boston. .

Frederick Scott Archer in in 1851 announced that he had developed a new type of photography. It was less expensive than a Daguerreotype and thus soon began to replace the Daguerreotype process. I am not sure just how quickly Archer succeeded in introducing his new process. Several sources refer to Ambrotypes as beginning about 1855. I think this may rfer to when the Ambrotype began to appear in large numbers. Apparently by the mid-1850s the Ambrotype had become the dominant form of photographic portraiture in the United States. Ambrotypes were made from the 1850s through the early 1860s. The were, however, by the mid-1860s, increasingly replaced by negative photography--especially the cartes-de-visite (CDV). The fact that the Ambrotype was such a popular process from the mid-50s to the early 60s is useful to know in attempting to date these images. Ambrotypes were probably made after the very early 1860s, however, we believe that there were not many made in comparison to the number of CDVs. One example is portraits of David Platt. of While cheaper than a Daguerreotype, the Ambrotype were still more expensive than CDVs and less desirable because the image was of a lower quality and not easily stored in albums for display. Thus there were strong inducements for photographers to rapidly make the tranhsition. It can thus be assumed that most ambrotypes were made in the mid- and late-1850s or very early 60s (1860-62).

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Created: 12:25 AM 8/6/2007
Last updated: 12:25 AM 8/6/2007