A Lesson on Identification and a Kindred Spirit

I periodically peruse the annals of Technorati for the word “daguerreotype.” Greater than half the time the results are from articles using the word as simile for some ancient person/place/thing for which the author has no stronger adjective.

Occasionally, however, there is an article such as this one that deals specifically with the art. Even more rare are those articles that speak of the art as a living medium. Though Sally J’s intent is to educate on the difference between an Ambrotype and a Daguerreotype she is rather more successful in winning me over with the following:

“I would pay oodles of money for a daguerreotype or ambrotype of an iPod.”

and only slightly disappoints with the follow-up edit:

“OK. Forget what I said about the iPod. That was just the first thing that came into my head. What I really want is to see a daguerreotype or ambrotype of the Neverwas Haul.”

Absent of these asides, Sally J’s article is an informative basic introduction to the differences between a daguerreotype and an ambrotype. I know more than one daguerreotype collector who has claimed a rather fetching mislabeled “ambrotype” off of eBay.

Jonathan