# Can someone tell me what this artifact might be called, if indeed it has a name?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-what-this-artifact-might-be-called-if-indeed-it-has-a-name/448538>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 8, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-what-this-artifact-might-be-called-if-indeed-it-has-a-name/448538 "2008-05-08T06:19:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-what-this-artifact-might-be-called-if-indeed-it-has-a-name/448538/1 "2008-05-08T06:19:43Z")

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It’s a mid-19th century photographic portrait, embedded in a piece of wood. The wood in turn has hinges on it. A colleague of mine has several of these, and as they are not currently attached to anything, is curious as to how the hinges might have functioned.

[Have a look](http://douglastaylor.org/question.jpg)

PS I posted here because I thought it might be classified as an ‘antique’. If it is more appropriate elsewhere, kindly move it.

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**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-what-this-artifact-might-be-called-if-indeed-it-has-a-name/448538/2 "2008-05-08T06:32:29Z")

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I seem to have misunderstood my colleague. The hinges are in fact attached to a cover, which closes over the portrait.

[Here is the full picture](http://douglastaylor.org/question2.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-what-this-artifact-might-be-called-if-indeed-it-has-a-name/448538/3 "2008-05-08T06:56:41Z")

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It’s just a portrait in a case. I’d date it to the late 1840s or early 1850s, with the caveat that I have a hard time dating men’s clothing from the mid-19th century, as it doesn’t show as much change as women’s clothing. It definitely looks pre-American Civil War to me, though.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-tell-me-what-this-artifact-might-be-called-if-indeed-it-has-a-name/448538/4 "2008-05-08T11:21:09Z")

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It’s a _[daguerreotype](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype)_.

The valuable ones would be of famous people or Civil War soldiers, in full dress, identifiable. Also, some of the cases can be quite valuable–most aren’t. I have a friend who has collected some of the cases which have embossed things(objects] such as the _Monitor_.