Ambrotype

Many ambrotypes were made by unknown photographers, such as this American example of a Union soldier (Sgt. Samuel Smith, 119th USCT[1]) with his family, c. 1863–65. Because of their fragility, ambrotypes were usually kept in folding cases like those used for daguerreotypes. This example is framed for display.

The ambrotype, also known as a collodion positive in the UK, is a positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. Following the invention of daguerreotypes, cheaper than the French invention, ambrotypes came to replace them. Like a print on paper, it is viewed by reflected light. Like the daguerreotype or the prints produced by a Polaroid camera, each is a unique original that could only be duplicated by using a camera to copy it.

The ambrotype was introduced in the 1850s. During the 1860s it was superseded by the tintype, a similar photograph on thin black-lacquered iron, hard to distinguish from an ambrotype if under glass.

The term ambrotype comes from Ancient Greek: ἄμβροτος ambrotos, "immortal", and τύπος typos, "impression".

  1. ^ "USCT Chronicle". 30 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2017-08-12. Retrieved 2017-03-22.