Civil War Tintype and Letter

Appraised on: June 17, 2006

Appraised in: Tucson, Arizona

Appraised by: Rafael Eledge

Category: Arms & Militaria

Episode Info: Tucson, Hour 1 (#1107)

Originally Aired: February 12, 2007

IMAGE: 1 of 2  

Appraisal Video: (2:25)

GUEST: I've got a letter that my great-grandfather wrote on the 23rd of May, 1865. He was at a speech that was being given by Major General O.B. Willcox.

APPRAISER: What was the importance of that day?

GUEST: Well, that date was the first day of the Grand Review in the Civil War. And the Grand Review was a two-day celebration that was celebrating the Union victory.

APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: It was held in Washington, D.C. And the two major Union armies were in attendance. General Meade's army of 80,000 and General Sherman's army fresh from their march across Georgia marched 65,000 soldiers on parade.

APPRAISER: The letter is written in German by your ancestor about the Grand Review that was held in Washington.

GUEST: That's right.

APPRAISER: He wrote the letter in German, but if you notice when he signed his name and his regiment, that's in English. Because the postman wouldn't be able to read the German. And what about the image that you brought?

GUEST: Well, the image is a tintype of my great-grandfather in his uniform.

APPRAISER: And it appears to be a backdrop. The traveling photographers would come around, they'd go into camp, they'd set up their photography studio, they'd have the camera and they'd have several different patriotic and other motifs that they could put in the backdrop. You could put on anything that you wanted of the camera props. And if you notice, he has everything. He has the knapsack, his hat, his uniform, the bayonet and the Model 1855 rifle. That's a Springfield Model 1855-- a .58 caliber rifle that you don't often see in Civil War photography. And it's a desirable thing to a photograph collector. Which is going to drive the price of the image up. And it's a quarter plate-- a nice larger size as well. The letter itself is probably a $200 to $400 letter. The image, because it's very clear-- it has the model 1855 rifle in it, a pretty painted backdrop and we know who it is, it would be about a $1,200 image. I would insure it as a pair for somewhere around the $2,000 range.

GUEST: I'm kind of flabbergasted that they've got that kind of value for insurance purposes.

APPRAISER: I appreciate you bringing them in today.

GUEST: Thank you.