Editing Daguerreotype (section)

== Casing and other display options ==
[[File:Daguerreotype EAA-1862-2-472-3 det02.jpg|thumb|left|Daguerreotype mounted on a box, in the [[National Archives of Estonia]]]]

Even when strengthened by gilding, the image surface was still very easily marred and air would tarnish the silver, so the finished plate was bound up with a protective cover glass and sealed with strips of paper soaked in [[gum arabic]]. In the US and UK, a gilt brass mat called a preserver in the US and a [[pinchbeck (alloy)|pinchbeck]] in Britain, was normally used to separate the image surface from the glass. In continental Europe, a thin cardboard mat or ''[[Passe-Partout (framing)|passepartout]]'' usually served that purpose.

There were two main methods of finishing daguerreotypes for protection and display:

In the US and Britain, the tradition of preserving miniature paintings in a wooden case covered with leather or paper stamped with a relief pattern continued through to the daguerreotype. Some daguerreotypists were portrait artists who also offered miniature portraits. Black-lacquered cases ornamented with inset [[Nacre|mother of pearl]] were sometimes used. The more substantial Union case was made from a mixture of colored sawdust and shellac (the main component of wood varnish) formed in a heated mold to produce a decorative sculptural relief. The word "Union" referred to the sawdust and varnish mixture—the manufacture of Union cases began in 1856.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://daguerre.org/resource/anthony/anthony3.html |title=A Tour of E. Anthony's Daguerreian Manufactory |year=1996 |publisher=daguerre.org |access-date=2014-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102133053/http://daguerre.org/resource/anthony/anthony3.html |archive-date=2014-11-02 |url-status=live }}</ref> In all types of cases, the inside of the cover was lined with velvet or plush or satin to provide a dark surface to reflect into the plate for viewing and to protect the cover glass.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phototree.com/id_dag.htm |title=The Mirror with a Memory |publisher=phototree.com |access-date=2012-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130041439/http://www.phototree.com/id_dag.htm |archive-date=2012-11-30 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some cases, however, held two daguerreotypes opposite each other. The cased images could be set out on a table or displayed on a [[Fireplace mantel|mantelpiece]]. Most cases were small and lightweight enough to easily carry in a pocket, although that was not normally done. The other approach, common in France and the rest of continental Europe, was to hang the daguerreotype on the wall in a frame, either simple or elaborate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.provant.be/en/binaries/Daguerreo%20Folder%20ENG_tcm10-92208.pdf |publisher=Antwerp Photography Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907130246/http://www.provant.be/en/binaries/Daguerreo%20Folder%20ENG_tcm10-92208.pdf |archive-date=2012-09-07 |title=Daguerreotype}}</ref><ref name="princeton">{{cite web |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/exhibits/dags/photo/ |title=The Daguerreotype |publisher=princeton.edu |access-date=2012-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111232314/http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/exhibits/dags/photo/ |archive-date=2013-11-11 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Conservators were able to determine that a daguerreotype of [[Walt Whitman]] was made in New Orleans with the main clue being the type of frame, which was made for wall hanging in the French and continental style.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.whitmanarchive.org/multimedia/image001.html |title=Pictures & Sound: Gallery of Images |access-date=2014-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129024639/http://www.whitmanarchive.org/multimedia/image001.html |archive-date=2014-11-29 |url-status=live }}</ref> Supporting evidence of the New Orleans origin was a scrap of paper from ''Le Mesager'', a New Orleans bilingual newspaper of the time, which had been used to glue the plate into the frame.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bethel |first=Denise B. |year=1992 |title=Notes on an Early Daguerreotype of Walt Whitman |journal=Walt Whitman Quarterly Review |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=148–153 |doi=10.13008/2153-3695.1327 |s2cid=161216025 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Other clues used by historians to identify daguerreotypes are hallmarks in the silver plate and the distinctive patterns left by different photographers when polishing the plate with a leather buff, which leaves extremely fine parallel lines discernible on the surface.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ntm.cz/data/veda-a-vyzkum/booklet-eng.pdf |title=Daguerreotypes: Europe's Earliest Photographic Records |year=2014 |publisher=daguerrebase.org |pages=25, 54 |access-date=2014-09-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912183504/http://www.ntm.cz/data/veda-a-vyzkum/booklet-eng.pdf |archive-date=2014-09-12 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As the daguerreotype itself is on a relatively thin sheet of soft metal, it was easily sheared down to sizes and shapes suited for mounting into lockets, as was done with miniature paintings.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hannavy |first=John |title=Victorian Photographers at Work |year=1997 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=0-7478-0358-7 |page=90}}</ref> Other imaginative uses of daguerreotype portraits were to mount them in [[Pocket watch|watch fobs and watch cases]], jewel caskets and other ornate silver or gold boxes, the handles of [[walking stick]]s, and in brooches, bracelets and other jewelry now referred to by collectors as "daguerreian jewelry".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/isenburg-collection-of-early-photography-sells-for-15-million |title=Isenburg collection sold to Canada |website=BritishPhotoHistory.Ning.com|date=7 July 2012 }}</ref> The cover glass or crystal was sealed either directly to the edges of the daguerreotype or to the opening of its receptacle and a protective hinged cover was usually provided.