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Thomas Easterly
Advertisement for "Daguerreotypes."
1865, 1 January
Advert
Missouri Historical Society
Photograph courtesy of Shayne Davidson (July 2016)
LL/67906
Daguerreotypes
The prevailing opinion that Daguerreotypes will fade is an error. Like silver or gold they will tarnish, but not fade, and such pictures can be restored to their original brilliancy and beauty, which is proof that they have not faded.
Twenty years of experience in this branch of business, has enabled the subscriber to arrive at facts, and he is willing to risk his reputation on the above assertion. Old Daguerreotypes entrusted to his care, supposed to be faded, will be cleaned and returned in as good order as on the day of their creation, provided they have not been defaced by handling, which is frequently done by attempting to wipe the dust from the plate, after the glass has been removed.
Save your old Daguerreotypes, for you may never see their like again. They last longer and copy better than any other picture known. In short, by no other process can so perfect and durable a likeness be produced, and every unprejudiced artist will bear testimony to what we assert.
A brief outline of the process by which the Daguerreotype is made thus durable, may not be uninteresting to the public.
In the first place, a perfectly polished surface of pure silver is coated with Iodine and Bromine in the proper proportions, which forms a bromo-iodide of silver, and by the action of light through the Camera and an exposure to hot mercury, as perfect an etching of the object before the instrument is produced, as if done on steel, with acid, though not so intense. In the next place, the picture is subjected to the gilding process, and a coating of pure gold covers the entire surface of the plate, and although Nitric Acid will act on and dissolve silver, it will not act on gold, and a well gilded Daguerreotype is as imperishable as gold itself. The subscriber has often subjected his pictures to the test of Nitric Acid, and knows of what he speaks. Furthermore, he has exposed Daguerreotypes to the weather and hot sun for fifteen years, without their undergoing the slightest change. Try the experiment on a Photograph for as many weeks, and mark the difference. We do not wish to say anything derogatory to the character and nature of the Photograph. It has its advantages and we contend only for facts in relation to the perfection and durability of the two pictures.
Be not alarmed then for the safety of a good daguerreotype. It will doubtless out live you, your children, your grand-children, and your great-grand-children.
If you desire them or any other pictures cleaned, copied, enlarged or changed into any other style, such as plain Photographs, or finished in Crayon, India Ink, Oil or Water Colors, the subscriber is prepared to take the order.
He is also prepared to take likenesses of deceased persons, which can be copied into any other size or style of picture desired.
T. M. Easterly,
Entrance to Office between 63 and 65 North Fourth Street, east side, South of Olive,
Room No. 7, Third Floor. Office hours from 10 to 12 A. M.
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