1/9 Plate Ambrotype – mid to late 1850s

1/9 Plate Ambrotype – mid to late 1850s

An unidentified young girl with a late period Niagara style bag. The extra expense that was paid the photographer to hand-color the bag speaks of its importance to the owner, and how much it was admired.

By the 1860s, the wide variety of ornamentation that appeared on bags from the early Niagara floral style, had been reduced to just a handful of recognizable types. This is substantiated by both dated examples and photographs from this decade. Rarely are images from the 1860s seen in which the bags have ovate florals. The few examples that do exist only had them on the flaps and always in an asymmetrical design and without the long, thick stems.