Eighteen 1860's era Gem Tintypes in Keepsake Box Child w/ Hoop

A tintype is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark lacquer supporting for the photographic emulsion. Tintypes had their widest use during the 1860s and 1870s, but continued mostly as a novelty into the early 20th century. Tintype portraits were first made at photographic studios, then later by itinerant sidewalk photographers, in booths at fairs, or in wagons in the countryside. One unusual piece of tintype equipment was a twelve-lensed camera that could make a dozen 3/4 by 1-inch (19 mm × 25 mm) "gem" portraits with one exposure, developed in 1858. This mass production techniques help families share portraits of each other.

This is a lot of eighteen gem size tintypes, all being an inch or less in height. They are all as found, in a little cardboard keepsake box featuring a child rolling a hoop toy or hoop trundling. They likely were taken from a gem tintype camera given that two photos are identical, it is likely most were made in sheets of 12. The photos range from poor to good condition. Many have the lacquer emulsion with various degrees of bubbling. Two have tinting. The image of a young man with a scarf with anchor pin is interesting. Perhaps as collectible as the tintypes is the carefully made and detailed cardboard keepsake box featuring a miniature hand tinted lithograph of a child rolling a hoop, paper lace borders, and a mirror inside. The photos have been placed in individual baseball card sleeves to protect them.