Can anyone help date this glass neg?

[-Josh-]

As the title says..... My Grandad has a glass negative of someone that he believes to be a relative. It had been rattling around in various kitchen drawers until he started tracing his family tree back and decided to look into it. I think it may be a wet collodion glass plate, which would date it to around 1850-1880. My Grandad thinks the person in the photograph died around 1840, so those dates wouldn't match. Is it possible that the neg could be as old as 1840?

View attachment 36480

It measures around 6x9 and the back has been painted black at some point to make it look positive.

Any opinions welcome!

 

[StephenM]

I wondered if it could be an Ambrotype, but I don't know what the size is. If it's 6x9 inches, it's much larger than the norm (up to whole plate, 6.5x8.5 inches). If you're metric, then it does fit within the size parameters. As far as I know, if it's 1840, it has to be a Daguerrotype or a Calotype; anything else will be 1850s onward.

 

[kendo1]

To me, it looks like an American Civil war uniform. The clay pipe was very common at this time too.
So, maybe 1861 - 1865, which would also fit in with the wet collodion plate.
8 x 10 was the preferred size.

 

[joxby]

It must be an Ambrotype if its on glass with a painted back, Daguerrotypes were usually on metal and Calotypes on paper.

 

[-Josh-]

Thanks for the replies. I don't have the negative in my possession but I think I need to take another look at it. @kendo1 , I'd have thought military too but some local history buffs have identified it as a miners uniform from Scotland! This does raise the question of why a humble miner would have been having his photo taken though when I'd have thought it was still a rare and expensive process. We've theorised that it could be for some sort of insurance purpose through the employer, or a 'hobbyist' photographer practicing the craft..