Show your Baseball Ambrotypes

[Leon]

Newly picked up and only 157 yrs old~~

[drcy]

Not many exist.

[slidekellyslide]

Great Ambro!!! 14 years old in 1860...wonder if he fought in the Civil War?

[Leon]

Probably, according to this write up that was with it.

Fantastic rare historical photograph! Needless to say, baseball ambrotypes are very rare. This is an original, dated 1860 1/4 plate ambrotype of C. A. Neide at age 14. He is wearing a baseball uniform with a belt which reads either Pacific or Pacifics. Plus he has his bat with him. The attached paper on the back with his name and the date is in period handwriting. The research I did leads me to believe that he played for either the Newark Pacific or the Jersey City Pacifics. It's hard to read the side of the belt to clearly see if there is an "s" there or not. Both clubs started in 1859. The research I did on his name came up with a likely candidate being Dr. Charles A. Neide (1846-1907) who served in the civil war, became a dentist in Albany NY, was the secretary of the American Canoe Association, and wrote a book titled "The Canoe Aurora; a Cruise from the Adirondacks to the Gulf." He was described as "tall, handsome and athletic." Now as to the condition: The paper that is attached on the back has lifted up some of the black varnish backing. (On ambrotypes, black varnish was put on the back of the glass to make the image a positive.) This has created the grey blob area. Additionally there is some tarnishing in a few areas which can be seen for example on his right shirt sleeve. The old black varnish can easily be scraped off and reapplied which would improve the appearance greatly. Of course you would be removing the attached paper. I chose not to do this and to leave it to the future owner to decide. The tarnish is not repairable as far as I know. Also, the case smells a bit like old powder. Case is separated. Maybe it was stored in a drawer for a long time. The floor and I believe the white areas of the uniform were hand tinted as seen best in the photo taken with the over glass removed.

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Great Ambro!!! 14 years old in 1860...wonder if he fought in the Civil War?

[ksfarmboy]

Fantastic Leon. The best part is it's identified.

[GaryPassamonte]

Great pick up, Leon! The closest I can come is this daguerreotype of a boy holding a ball.