See picture at the end

Our home is decorated with antiques and collections, as it’s our belief these items should not be hidden away just to possess them. Many items that have a functional purpose, are still used as intended.

But glass negatives do not lend themselves to display. So they sit in a cabinet in the dark room that Wifey uses as her Ebay photo shoot area. I can justify having them and breaking my “Display It If You Collect It” rule, by insisting I’m a savior of old images, rescuing the past with the hope future generations can see these images and understand the incredible work of these early photographers, especially with photos of everyday life with ordinary people.

My last blog showed some of the first batch of seventeen glass negatives I purchased at auction included in a box lot with a tiny spy camera that I was bidding on. I have added to my negative collection selectively over these last fifteen years with an eye toward interesting subjects, not just landscapes or portraits.

Here are some I think you will enjoy seeing. I have reversed the negatives digitally, to show what the printed pictures would look like. Note the rough condition of some. Also study the backgrounds for interesting items, it’s always the details that delight the viewer.

Common portrait of a woman at the end of the century, in a garden, probably wearing a wedding dress.

While early photos of guitar players might be rare, I find the wood stove interesting.

Sitting at her spinning wheel in this sparsely decorated room with the spindly looking plant, our photographer has captured a pensive look in natural window light.

It must have been a snowy winter when this shot was taken,

Our dapper gentleman is loading a shotgun, in this wonderful outdoor photo.

In the same batch, this Milwaukee Country Club Trophy is for Shooting.

Check out this room, with the gentleman sitting at the typewriter in an office chair and using two hands to type. Note! the great stove in the background with a statuette atop, the laundry drying in the corner, wash basket on the floor.

Check out the shoes on this cross dresser, need I say more.

Have you ever seen a better copy of Huck Finn?  Of course Huck didn’t live on this mansion lined street.

Are these the mothers?

And who can resist chickens in a farm yard?

This one is actually a positive print on glass. Our Gang Comedy In The Streets Of Old Milwaukee. Note the Pabst Beer Sign on Tony Rott’s Saloon and dated 1921.

Now lastly, here is what our young lady looks like from the teaser in my last blog.

These glass negatives are found at all antique and collectible venues, but require a watchful eye to spot.

They come in many sizes and I have some in five different configurations from 4-1/4”x 4-1/4” square to 5” x 7” I also have regular negatives and tin type photos in my collection.

Share with us your collection. 

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 3:55 am and is filed under collecting fyi, flea market finds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.