Cycleback's Important Tips for Photograph Collectors

‘Silvering’: a quality that identifies a photo as old

The most common form of early 1900s black and white photo was the gelatin silver photograph. Many early gelatin silver black & white photos have ‘silvering.’ Silvering is when it appears as if the silver has come to surface of the image. If it exists, it is more noticeable at the edges and in the dark areas of the image, and when viewed at a specific angle to the light. If you change the angle of the photo to a light source, the silvering will be come stronger and darkers, sometimes dissapearing. It can range intensitity. Sometimes it is only revealed under close examination when holding the photo nearing a 180 degree to a light. Silvering appears on some other types of photographs, most notable the gelatin silver. Importantly for collectors, silvering is an aging process. In simple words, a photograph with natural silvering wasn’t made yesterday.

To a lesser extent, silvering can also appear on 1800s albumen prints.