Anonymous American Photographer

sixth-plate daguerreotype, in a thermoplastic case, inscribed 'Mrs Ann R. Tilton / a present from Sister Fanny' in pencil inside the right side of the case, 1850s

Acquired from Leon Jacobson

Stanley B. Burns, Mirror Mirror: The Burns Collection Daguerreotypes (New York: The Burns Archive Press, 2012), pl. 67 B

The location in which this daguerreotype was made has been identified as Montgomery, Alabama.  Contemporary newspaper advertisements in the Daily Alabama Journal in 1851 and 1852 list several businesses whose signs are legible in the present daguerreotype: Halfmann’s Clothing Emporium; Richard Coxe & Co.; and McBryde & Thiess.  Directions to McBryde & Thiess were simply ‘Sign of the large Golden Mortar,’ which is visible atop the pillar at far left.

Sotheby's wishes to thank Sandra Markham, Yale University Library, for her assistance in researching this photograph.