Join the Q: Merry Christmas from the 19th Century
Created | Updated Dec 27, 2020
Merry Christmas from the 19th Century
Here is a carte de visite Christmas and New Year greeting from the late 19th Century. It features a 'Gem Portrait' ferrotype photograph, which is a print on a metal plate - the plate includes iron, so magnets are attracted to it. The cards were the Polaroid photographs of their day - they could be 'Taken and Finished in a few minutes', and a dozen cards cost one shilling. Sadly the name of the person in the photograph is not included, but the card was given to my Great-Great Aunt Laurie.