https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com Sun, 02 Aug 2026 17:03:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2025/08/half-plate-daguerreotype-idd-politician-gold-rush-miner-california-rare-1850s/ https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2025/08/half-plate-daguerreotype-idd-politician-gold-rush-miner-california-rare-1850s/#comments Mon, 04 Aug 2025 17:53:09 +0000 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2025/08/half-plate-daguerreotype-idd-politician-gold-rush-miner-california-rare-1850s/







The family is identified inside of the case, as well as on the back of the case. Fargo was born in New York, was a teacher and county clerk in Warsaw, NY before being lured to California by the Gold Rush in April’51. In 1852, Fargo and his wife were living in the mining town of Fairfield Bar, on Feather River, where his wife was the only woman. In July’52, their daughter Eva, the girl in the dag, was born there. Also notice that Marietta is in mourning attire, including mourning bands; her father Doras b. 1792 died September 27, 1853, and I believe that is who she was in mourning for… So late 1853, or very early 1854 as estimated by the writing on the back, would be accurate. By 1854 the Fargos were living in San Francisco, where this portrait was likely taken possibly by Shew or Vance? In the winter of 1860 he was elected to the Alameda County, CA assembly. A more extensive bio can be found in his obituary (see pics 5 & 6). Note that the obit is provided here for reference only and hard copies are not included, but feel free to download the scans. If you’d like a larger scan message me. Dag comes in half of its original case (6″ x 4.75″), which is missing BOTH the RIGHT and the LEFT rails. My photo shows that it has both, but I misplaced one. More condition notes: Pretty heavy tarnish ring that does not obscure the figures. The original seals appear to be intact and still in place, however under magnification I do spot a few smallish mat abrasions within the tarnish ring, so the seals are probably a bit loose and have allowed some slight movement.. The abrasions do not jump out unless you’re really looking for them. The underside of the glass is DIRTY… The glass should clean up very nicely if you open the seals and clean the underside of it.

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Excellent half-plate ambrotype of two boys, the older with his arm around the shoulder of the younger, and both holding hands. In half of its original case (6″ x 4.4″) behind mat and cover glass. This is a clear glass relievo ambro that also has a piece of black velvet in the case behind the image. It’s in very good antique condition with no notable issues.

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Half plate ambrotype of young mother and her two children. Image comes in a split full case and is signed by Charles Hamilton artist, San Francisco CA. In the lower left corner. Image has those snowflake anomalies that are formed over time between the coverglass and image. This is caused by the glue that the photographer used. Image has original seals. The one jpeg I added is out of focus, but you can see the image is sharp as a tack.

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Half plate ambrotype of young mother and her two children. Image comes in a split full case and is signed by Charles Hamilton artist, San Francisco CA. In the lower left corner. Image has those snowflake anomalies that are formed over time between the coverglass and image. This is caused by the glue that the photographer used. Image has original seals. The one jpeg I added is out of focus, but you can see the image is sharp as a tack. The item “Half Plate California San Francisco Ambrotype of Lady Hamilton artist” is in sale since Sunday, January 10, 2021. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Photographic Images\Vintage & Antique (Pre-1940)\Daguerreotypes”. The seller is “bbvd” and is located in Torrington, Wyoming. This item can be shipped to North, South, or Latin America, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Brunei darussalam, Egypt, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Reunion, Viet nam.

• Listed By: Artist
• Photo Type: Ambrotype

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