Antique photographs are little time capsules. Even when nobody wrote a name on the back, the type of photo, the card it's mounted on, the studio stamp and the clothes people wore can often date it within a decade or two.
We have 14 antique photographs in the shop right now, from tintypes and cabinet cards to a WWI real photo postcard, starting at $12.
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Step 1: Identify the type of photograph
- Daguerreotype (1839 to about 1860): an image on silvered copper that looks like a mirror and shifts between positive and negative as you tilt it. Usually in a small hinged case.
- Ambrotype (mid-1850s to the 1860s): an image on glass backed with black, also usually cased.
- Tintype (mid-1850s to the early 1900s): an image on thin, dark iron. A magnet will stick to it.
- Carte de visite (about 1860 to the 1900s, most popular in the 1860s and 1870s): a small photo on a card about 2.5" x 4".
- Cabinet card (late 1860s to the 1910s, most popular in the 1880s and 1890s): a larger photo on a card about 4.25" x 6.5".
- Real photo postcard, or RPPC (about 1900 to the 1950s): an actual photograph printed on postcard-backed paper, about 3.5" x 5.5". Hugely popular in the 1900s to 1920s.
- Snapshots and later mounted photos (1890s to 1920s): once easy roll-film cameras arrived, everyday people started taking their own pictures, often mounted on plain card or kept in albums.
See it in person: antique photographs in the shop
Tintypes, cabinet cards, a real photo postcard and snapshots. Each one is a single piece, so when it's gone, it's gone.
Step 2: Read the mount
The card a photo is mounted on changed with fashion, which makes it one of the best dating clues.
- 1860s to 1870s: thin, light-colored card with square corners and simple borders.
- 1880s: thicker card, rounded corners, and gold or colored edges. Darker mounts in maroon, green and black became fashionable, often with gilt beveled edges.
- 1890s: heavy dark card, scalloped or embossed edges and large, fancy studio names in gold.
- 1900s to 1910s: soft gray, brown or cream mounts, embossed borders and folder-style covers that open like a greeting card.
Step 3: Look up the studio
Many photos carry the studio's name and city on the front or back. Photographers often moved or changed partners, so old city directories and local historical societies can narrow down the years a studio worked at a particular address. A studio stamp also tells you where the sitter lived, which is gold for family historians.
Step 4: Check clothing and hairstyles
- 1870s to 1880s: bustles, high, tightly fitted bodices and close-cut sleeves for women.
- Mid-1890s: huge puffed "leg-of-mutton" sleeves.
- 1900s to 1910s: high lace collars, full upswept hairstyles, shirtwaist blouses and big hats.
- WWI era (1917 to 1919): U.S. soldiers in campaign hats, stand-collar tunics, breeches and canvas leggings.
- 1920s: bobbed hair, cloche hats, drop-waist dresses, and knickers or plus fours for men.
- Men's hats: derby hats were everywhere in the 1880s and 1890s.
People sometimes wore older clothes for portraits, so clothing gives you an "at least this old" date rather than an exact one. Outdoor photos add more clues: horse-drawn buggies, house styles and even fence types all help narrow the date.
Step 5: Turn it over
The back of a photo can be worth more than the front. Look for names, dates, places and notes, and for printing on the paper itself. Real photo postcards have a printed postcard back, and the stamp box often carries the photo paper maker's name, such as AZO, which helps narrow the date.
About "ghosts" in old photos
Faint, see-through figures turn up in many old photographs. Early exposures could take a second or more, so anyone who walked into or out of the frame, or moved partway through, was recorded only partly and appears semi-transparent. It's a happy accident that collectors of spooky photos love.
Why names and dates matter
A photo with a written name, place or date is much more interesting to collectors and genealogists. Identified photos are sometimes found by descendants searching for their ancestors, and dated photos help collectors date others like them.
Care
Handle photos by the edges with clean, dry hands. Store them in acid-free sleeves or boxes, away from sunlight, heat and humidity. Skip tape, glue and old "magnetic" albums, and don't try to clean the image itself.
Shop antique photographs
- Tintype of six young men with lapel ribbons in its original paper sleeve, c. 1885-1900
- Cabinet card of Emma Harrington, Scranton PA, c. 1883-1890
- Cabinet card of four young men in derby hats, c. 1885-1895
- Portrait of Mrs. Antonia Cannon, Waterville, Maine, dated 1898
- Edwardian portrait of a young woman, Hudson Studio Pittsburgh
- Edwardian parlor card party snapshot, c. 1900-1910
- Cabinet card of a bearded gentleman, Aufrecht studio, Allegheny PA, c. 1885-1895
- Cabinet card of a boy in a sailor suit, Dana studio Pittsburgh, 1896
- Cabinet card of a young woman in a winter coat and fur muff, Elite Studio Pittsburg, c. 1895-1905
- 1920s snapshot of "the Herr Professor & the Madam," Mr. & Mrs. Curtis, with a handwritten note
- WWI U.S. Army soldier real photo postcard with a handwritten family note, c. 1917-1919
- 1920s women's club outing group photograph with ghostly figures, 8" x 10"
- Large mounted photograph of a Victorian gingerbread farmhouse with a horse and buggy and a mule cart, c. 1895-1905
- Cabinet card of an amateur theater cast, Bremen, Kentucky, with the sitters named on the back, c. 1890-1905
Browse them all in our Antique Photographs collection.
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Keep reading: Spooky Victorian Finds · Georgian vs. Victorian · Reverse Painted Silhouette Pictures
Do you have an old family photo with no name on the back? Tell us what clues you'd use to figure out who it might be.