Photograph (Daguerreotype), Image Indistinct but Probably a Woman, by Hugh Lee Pattinson, c.1845

Daguerreotype. Image indistinct but the dark triangular shape filling the lower half [described in previous versions of this catalogue as "Volcano-like"] is probably a woman's dress, her upper figure being largely obliterated by the smudging and surface damage; alternatively if the facial features in the central burst are not an illusion it could be a man occupying the lower half of the plate only.

One of ten daguerreotypes that were in the original light-proof tin, in which they had been purchased before exposure; the tin (29300) also contained part of a price list (12020) of the supplier Egerton dated July 1845, which provides an approximate date for the images. They have been returned to the tin after exposure, development, and (presumably) fixing, but never mounted in protective enclosures or frames, as was normal with daguerreotypes and essential not just to their handling but to their chemical survival (as daguerreotypes are sensitive to exposure to the atmosphere, not just to exposure to light, and their surfaces are extremely delicate). They have thus both faded (all the images are faint, some barely discernable under normal viewing conditions) and sustained surface damage, varying from chemical eruptions and discoloration natural to the process to gross damage from rough handling (perhaps by children of the Pattinson and Newall families).