Original circa 1870's-1880's tintype photo showing a man with his hand on a park bench. Behind him is a painted backdrop which has a domed building. The top and bottom edges of the tintype shows a striped material like that which would be used on some commercial tents. We believe that this tintype is an occupational of a tent salesman.

There is a fold out advertisement made to open up at the edge of the paper mount which has a promotion for the Wagner Mfg. Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. This company sold second hand tents. It was our thought that perhaps the backdrop in the photo represented a domed building in Cleveland, Ohio (the city where the Wagner company was located). However, at the bottom of the ad is the wording "We furnished all tents for this midway." So, the drift seems to be that the domed building on the backdrop represents a building that was on a midway? The man shown in the photo was apparently a salesman for the Wagner tent company. Quite an interesting & unusual occupational tintype.

The original paper mount measures 4 11/16 inches by 3 1/16 inches. The matt has some age soiling & a few minor surface wrinkles. This tintype photo measures 3 5/16 inches by 2 3/8 inches. When viewed straight on the photo looks nice & clear with only a few surface scratches visible along the right & left edges. When the photo is held at an angle in bright light more surface scratches are visible along these two edges. Also, when the photo is held at an angle in bright light lots & lots of tiny surface specks of oxidation are visible. But, all of the surface is entirely stable.

We ran our finger tip over these oxidation specks & they are slightly rough to the touch. These flaws mentioned are not an issue when looking straight on at the photo. However, they are an issue when running your finger across the surface &/or when viewing the photo at an angle in bright light. This interesting photo came from an old Pennsylvania collection of tintypes which was formed over several decades.

Please examine the photos closely & purchase based on your own judgement as to condition & value. This item is inventory #9954.

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