Artist unknown

Gem album with images

3 3/4 x 3" CASE

This gem album contains 10 albumen and 38 tintype photographs. Gem photographs were popular means to capture a miniature portrait of a loved one- each gem is roughly 1 ¼ inch high and 1 inch wide. Albumen prints, a special technique invented in 1850, use egg white-coated paper covered with a silver nitrate solution to produce sharp images. This differs from tintypes, which are produced on thin metal sheets covered in enamel or lacquer.

last half 19th C.

Gift of Dr. Bancroft

1995.231