1848 Baseball Daguerreotype on Mastro..

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Posted By: jason

I was referring to Mr Cook and not Barry when I mentioned weighing in.

BTW I agree with Barry that there is no way to confirm that the ball pictured is a baseball. I will however guarantee that there is definitely a gusset or a lemon peel stitching visible on the ball and you could see it too if there were adequate pictures provided!

I have taken the case & plate apart and checked the dag very closely and I can confirm that the plate and the mat are original to each other displaying corresponding marking and tarnishing to the silver. I will also state my reputation that the dag dates to no later than 1850. I not only collect baseball photos but general early daguerreotypes and have a large collection (around 150) dating from 1841 to the 1860's and the scroll mat was used in the late 40's to 1850 at the latest. I think someone like Denise Water from http://www.finedags.com could confirm this (take a look at his Dag galleries & his sale section which will help date early dags)

Just to finish the child is a boy wearing a dress. You can't see it too well in the photo because of the mirrored image but it is tinted blue. As Rob M has already stated it was the fashion in the 1840's for both boy & girls to ware dress up to a certain age.