Item Details

USA, 1930, Disbound

VG

[Opalotypes] Antique Lot 1930s Photographic Portraits OPALOTYPES Milk Glass Positives Hand Colored

DESCRIPTION OF ITEM:

Lot of seven (7) opalotype portraits dating from the 1930s. They measure 3 1/2” x 4 ½”. No info on provenance available.

Opalotypes, or “milk glass positives”

The Opalotype, or Opaltype, sometimes known as a milk glass positive is an 1850s process, patented by Glover and Boyd in 1857 in Liverpool.  The method varies, either a silver gelatin or carbon emulsion being the commonest, but collodion could also be used. They aren't made in camera, but in a darkroom from a conventional negative. Multiple prints are therefore no problem.  Rarer than Ambrotypes , Opalotypes are very often hand coloured.

In the beginning they may have been intended to mimic the delicate painted portraits on ivory that wealthy people once might have commissioned.