5043

Daguerreotype of Woman & Child, S.S. Central America treasure, 1857 [146602]

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Shipwreck Artifacts Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Daguerreotype of Woman & Child, S.S. Central America treasure, 1857 [146602]
SOLD
15,500.00USD+ (3,100.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2023 Mar 05 @ 15:47UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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Daguerreotype recovered from the S.S. Central America shipwreck. Shows a woman on the right, a young child on the left. It is 3 x 4 inches. The identities of these individuals are unknowable. This daguerreotype has been conserved and mounted in a 4 x 5-inch archival frame, glazed front and back. Daguerreotypes were made on a silver-plated copper plate, polished to a mirror finish, then sensitized by exposing the plate to the fumes of iodine or bromine. After being exposed to light through a lens, the image was developed by exposing the plate to the fumes of mercury until the direct positive image appeared, then fixed in a bath of sodium thiosulfate or ordinary salt.

A series of still photographs show this piece in situ as part of a pile of photographic plates lying in the port side debris field, along with recovery of the piece with the limpet tool of the ROV. This pile of photographs was designated as Coin Pile #10a since gold coins were also present in the deposit.

Provenance: SS Central America Collection