D7-217. EVEN AT HER AGE. Seeing is believing, loyal readers! My wife Carol, who is a pediatrics nurse and taught prepared child birth classes for 10 years, took one look at this extraordinary, resealed sixth plate and quickly exclaimed, "It must have been twins or maybe even triplets". A couple doctor friends at first tried the "it's a tumor routine" before finally agreeing that indeed, the 40-something woman, was in the finally days of her pregnancy. Remember, by the mid-1850's, when the woman was daguerreotyped, photography had been popular for 15 years and it wouldn't have been unthinkable to record on a finely silvered plate an older woman who was definitely going to give birth to multiple babies. The proud (and probably nearly shocked to death papa when she told him) wished to immortalize the event before the kids were born. Every time I examine her bulging belly and search her flabby face, I can't help wondering what she was thinking at the moment of truth when the lens was uncapped? Her expression doesn't reveal any pain or terrible discomfiture and certainly she wouldn't have placed her hand contentedly on her tummy if her condition was anything but a pregnancy. The maker was proficient at daguerreotypy and completed a marvelous plate. Reflected depth doesn't get any better. The contrast and tonality are first class. Weird oxidation touches her from three sides, within the confines of a very lovely embossed brass mat the has a single flower in each corner. Her flesh tones are colored in a natural hue and the whole case is missing leather along the spine. The bright red velvet pad has an embossed, decorative theme that I have never seen before. While I wouldn't classify the portrait as a "medical dag" it certainly is one that has appealing social interest. $645