Sixth-plate daguerreotypes by Jeremiah Gurney of New York, NY (active 1840-50s) in early leather cases, depicting the same gentleman.

The first image shows a gentleman holding a sheaf of papers. He is posed in front of Gurney's backdrop, with Gurney's name painted on the urn at left. The Gurney backdrop in this sixth-plate image is identical to one that appeared in the National Portrait Gallery exhibition on Gurney in 2022. As written in the National Portrait Gallery site, "Daguerreotypes present laterally reversed images, so the urn's lettering had to be written in reverse to appear legible in the picture. This apparently led to some confusion, for when Gurney's urn was inscribed, the periods that should follow the letters "N" and "Y" precede them instead. The painted backdrop representing a Hudson River scene appears in several Gurney daguerreotypes from this period." Another Gurney image with the same backdrop is pictured in "The Silver Canvas: Daguerreotype Masterpieces from the J. Paul Getty Museum." They date the image to 1842-3.

The second very early image, of the same gentleman, was found together in the same family collection, and is in a case nearly identical to the Gurney image with the backdrop. We assume the other image was also taken by Gurney about the same time, though at an probably at a different sitting. Craig notes Gurney learned the daguerreotype process in 1840 and operated a jewelry store on Maiden Lane in New York City. He is first listed as a Daguerreian in the New York City directories in 1843.

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Excellent condition, with their original seals. Some light brown spotting on the image with the red mat.