Gent with Electrical Coil

Opening: $1,800 Hammer Price: $1,800 SOLD Skylight Gallery 21 November 2005

English quarter plate daguerreotype, 1840s, of a gent holding a piece of electrical equipment, probably a coil. With light tinting in red and blue. Housed in a full morocco-leather case. Together with a period newspaper clipping found in case and perhaps identifying the sitter as "1849... James H Hirne Surgeon".   ( Inventory# ib140 )

A very rare view of a gent with scientific equipment, in this case what appears to be a large coil with contact at top. The device appears to be too large to be part of a commercial telegraph, but might be a laboratory-style mockup of a receiver or repeater such as used in telegraphy.

The image is on a quarter-plate sized plate, mat and case are somewhat larger. The image is quite clear and with excellent tonal range. It appears to have been cleaned at some point in the past. There is a rubbed area in lower right corner, some brushing marks along the edges, and mat scratches at left edge.