Union Case With Embossed "s. Peck & Co" Inscription, Daguerreotype Of A Woman, C. 1850

Daguerreotype portrait of a woman of high social standing in a Bakelite Union Case with a relief scene.

The lid features a famous high-relief molded design: it is a sculpted reproduction of the work by British painter Sir Thomas Lawrence, *The Calmady Children*, 1823.

Manufactured by S. Peck & Co. in the 1850s, this daguerreotype case is a registered design of the company. The relief scenes are molded from Bakelite, and the interior features a piece of embossed velvet on one side and the ambrotype set in pinchbeck on the other. Samuel Peck was the first known plastic mold maker in the United States.

The young woman in the daguerreotype wears a taffeta dress with puffed sleeves and a collar adorned with a bow. She sports the smooth-banded hairstyle that was very popular in 1850. She is holding an object in her hands that could be a Union Case containing another daguerreotype, creating a frame-within-a-frame effect.

Union Case dimensions: 8.5 x 9.5 cm

Image dimensions: 5.5 x 6.5 cm

Union case

This is a case that protects the daguerreotype from any form of oxidation. In Europe, it may be made of leather, or of thermoplastic—a material created by pressing a mixture of wood fibers and shellac into a steel mold—many of which were produced in the U.S., hence their generic name “Union Case.”

Pinchbeck

Pinchbeck is a durable yellow metal that resembles gold but is made from a combination of copper and zinc…The formula was developed by Christopher Pinchbeck, a London watchmaker who lived from 1670 to 1732. Over time, the term “Pinchbeck” has often been used generically to refer to all types of gold substitutes.

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