This very distinguished looking man’s photograph has no identification on the front or back. As with all of the tintypes in the collection, the sleeve or album which may have originally held the picture did not survive.
The man wears his hair short. The damage to the tintype makes it difficult to tell if his hair is parted or combed back without a part. He has no side whiskers and wears a long handlebar mustache combed down sleekly with a slight upward curl at the end. He has a cleft chin and light colored eyes. Even more noticeable than his thin face with its high square forehead and low eyebrows are his large ears which stick out.
The flat bow tie is worn under the turned-down collar of his white shirt. His notch lapel vest has buttons covered in the same material as the suit. The chain of his pocket watch is attached at the third buttonhole. His coat or jacket (the length cannot be determined) matches the vest. It has long lapels and likely buttons only from the mid-section down.
Does the under-the-collar tie date this outfit to the 1870s or 1880s?
Unidentified Man, ca. 1870s or 1880s?
Photo type: Tintype
Tintype size: 1/6 plate; 2 5/8″ x 3 1/4″
Border style: N/A
Sleeve: none
Front imprint: none
Back imprint: none
Photographer: none
Labeling: none
Damage: cracks and rust
Could this be the same man as in the photo below? Yes, the chin is hidden by the older man’s beard and his nose looks broader, but look at the ears! Do ears drop with age? In the picture above the top of the ears are at the same level as the eyebrows (high set ears) while below they are just below eye level (low set ears).
If the man in the tintype above isn’t Albert Spencer LILLIE (1848-1913), perhaps he was one of his brothers?
More about this collection, how it came to be in my possession,
and links to previous posts in the series can be found here.
© 2017, copyright Cathy Meder-Dempsey. All rights reserved.
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Opening Doors in Brick Walls 
Another great post! 😃
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Thank you, Andy. I’m going to try and sneak in a comparison photo and explanation about tintypes, carte de visite, and cabinet cards for you next week. 🙂
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Yay! I look forward to it😃
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If these aren’t the same men, then I think they were related. By chance, the angle of their heads is about the same in both photos. The ears look the same, both have fairly deep set eyes under distinctive eyebrows and the noses are similar, although with the tin type , it’s a bit harder to tell.
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Thank you, Linda, for confirming I wasn’t imagining things. I compared this one with others in the collection but never thought to do it with the one I did today.
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In the top photo I noticed the left top and bottom have a cut edge unlike the right side. Have you seen any mention of that or was this photo damaged on the left? Did you compare the photos with your compare tool? Those ears look close!
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I tried with PicTriev and got 66%. I wanted to try with the TwinsOrNot site but was having problems uploading the photos.
I don’t know the reason some corners of tintypes are missing and will look that up. I have a suspicion. I’ll include it in my next post. 🙂 Thank you, Jeanne.
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The ears are certainly similar, though the eyes look different. Did you try pictriev with this one?
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PicTriev came back with 66%. Could be the difference in age or that the ears are not aligned the same in the two photos. Thank you, Amy.
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The first photograph would be 1860s based on the tie that was worn in that decade. The man’s attached ears and nose shape seem the same. Could be the same person.
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Thank you, Janice. Albert, the older man with the beard, was born in 1848. If the two are the same man, then he would have been too young in the 1860s to be the man at the top. He may remain unidentified. 😦
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I maybe see a family resemblance… But I’m never any good at this game (and I play it with a lot of my own unlabeled photographs). Just as soon as I *think* I see a resemblance, I see another feature that makes me question my judgment. Good luck!
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Same here and it is frustrating. Thanks for stopping by, Michael.
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