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march 21
2003
**** Q: Is there a difference between a
tinted print and a colored print, or do they mean the same thing?
**** A: Tinted and colored mean different
things.
Tinted
means one or two colors are added to the original print.
Colored
means three or more different colors are added.
These
numbers apply to the colors added in addition to the base print.
For example, if you take a black and white Harper's Woodcut and add by
brush the colors of blue and yellow, the Harper's Woodcut is
tinted. If you then add red, it's colored.
Hand
colored or hand printed means the extra colors were painted on by
hand. Usually, the extra colors are a translucent watercolor-like
paint. In an auction or sale description, simply 'colored' or
'tinted' without the preceding 'hand' likely indicates that the colors
were not added by hand, but by some sort of overprinting or stamping.
In general, colors added by hand are considered more desirable.
The terms
apply only when the colors are added distinctly after the original
printing is finished. If you cut out a black and white picture from
a magazine and add your own add your own colors, it's tinted or
colored. On the other hand, even though a 1970 Topps football card
has a variety of colors, it was all printed as part of one process, so it
is not a colored print. There were no artists afterwards, adding by
hand rose to John Unitas's cheeks or blue to Gayle Sayer's Jersey.
'Color
Versus Colored'
If the
colors of a print are made all as one basic printing process, like a
Topps trading card or cover of Time magazine, it's called a 'color print'
(no 'ed' after 'color'). The vast majority of multi color prints
are color and not colored.
****Q: With photographs of famous
athletes, is it better for him to be shown in his team's uniform or in
street clothes?
**** A: If you are talking price-wise, the
premium is probably given when the player is in uniform. I prefer
the player dressed dapperly in street clothes, but I'm in the
minority. During the athlete's playing years, a street clothes shot
is almost always the scarcer.
**** Q: Is
an Orotone one of a kind like a Daguerreotype?
**** A: Not by nature.
In the
olden days there was a variety of different types of photographs made
that have somewhat similar appearances as they have the photographic
image on a pane of metal or glass. Names for these photographs
including tintype (image on iron), Daguerreotype (silver coated copper),
ambrotype (glass usually backed in black), orotone (glass backed in
genuine gold), gold-tone (different name for orotone), Curtis-tone
(different name for orotone), ivorytype (fake ivory, usually hand colored
or tinted), autochrome (glass, the first true color photograph), opaltype
(white opaque glass, usually hand colored or tinted) and lantern slide
(glass).
The
Daguerreotypes, tintypes and ambrotypes were made in a way that, with the
rare exception, one and only one of a particular photograph could be
made. This means that if you own a Daguerreotype of a farmer or
house or whatever, you more than likely own the only example in the
world.
The other
photographs were made differently, and several copies could have been
made originally. This doesn't mean that a particular orotone or
opaltype is not the only one existence, but that there can be more than
one copy.
Seemingly
ironically, if you look at the overall populations of these photographs,
you will find that Daguerreotypes, tintypes and ambrotypes are by far the
more plentiful of the types mentioned. Meaning, if you check on
eBay you will find many more tintypes than you will find opaltypes or
ivorytypes. While the Daguerreotype, ambrotype and tintype could
only produce one photograph per shot, the processes were much more
popular.
The
reader's question may be why certain photographic processes can produce
only one photograph while others can produce multiples? As I
realize that it's near the weekend, I will leave the anwer to another
day. I will, however, give the following hint: If you remove
an ambrotype (only one can exist) from its holder, it will look exactly
like a glass negative. The image will be reverse left-to-right and
dark-to-light. However if you remove an orotone or opaltype
(multiples of each can exist) from its holder or frame, the image will
not be in negative. I'll let you try and figure that one out, before
I give the answer.
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