Unidentified maker
1850s
Daguerreotype Coloring Kit

Coloring kit
Fleischer's Auctions
Civil War & African American History, Aug 5, 2023, Lot: 364
 
Wonderful mahogany box with hinged lid and drawer containing all the elements used for adding color to daguerreotypes and salted paper prints. The kit includes fourteen vials with pigments, one brush, various small glass vessels, along with a brass alcohol burner. An extra bonus is a half-dozen sheets of 24 karat gold leaf, which was often added to enhance gold/brass colored elements of a subject's dress (earrings, rings, etc.).
 
This piece was likely originally owned by the photographer W. H. Lockhart, who was active in Bryan, Ohio in the 1850s and who advertised “faces in natural color.” Mr. Lockhart's business card is included with the kit.
 
Previously in the Jack Naylor Collection, liquidated by Guernsey's in 2007. Privately held since. At the time of the sale it was "a complete daguerreian coloring kit…the only such set known to exist."
 
LL/127093