Original Civil War Tennessee Confederate Soldier Tintype. Soldier served in the 33rd Infantry and in the 14th Calvary under Gen. Nathan Forrest

Did you know? Invented shortly before the outbreak of the American Civil War, tintypes were originally known as ferrotypes or melainotypes. Tintypes were characteristically similar to the earlier daguerreotypes but were cheaper and quicker to produce. Photographic emulsion produced a unique positive photographic image after being applied to a thin sheet of iron coated with an enamel or dark lacquer. Tintypes, like the ambrotype (a positive photograph on glass viewed by reflected light), were often hand-colored. To protect and display precious images of family, friends and notable events, customers utilized cases, frames and paper envelopes. The price of a tintype ranged, in the United States, from 25 cents to $2.50. A cost of $2.50 in 1861, would be more than $60.00 today!

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