The Daguerreotype was popular between 1839 and 1860. The equipment was heavy weighing 50kg, cost a year’s wages and involved posing for 5 minutes but it spread like wildfire. The first one to be brought to Australia arrived in 1841 by a Captain Lucas.
Do you have a Daguerreotype photo?
It’s a one-off image on a metal plate in black and white or coloured by hand. They were usually quite small, about 3 inches. The plates are heavy, fragile and tarnish if exposed to air so are mounted in a case or jewellery. Only the middle and upper classes would have been able to afford them. Their polished silver plates mean they look like a negative, a positive or a mirror depending on the angle you view them from.
Kindred Secrets 