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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Figtree3, post: 10503373, member: 33&quot;]Hello, [USER=84316]@Cereus17[/USER] -- Yes, there are some reference sources for these types of cases. I only know of one source for mats and preservers. The preserver is the brass border on the outside of the mat. If you were to take it apart you would see that the mat and the preserver are two separate pieces.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am consulting Sean William Nolan&#039;s guide <i>Fixed in Time: A Guide to Dating Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, and Tintypes by their mats and cases.</i> His guide is based on his observations and studies of cases and cased images that are dated. He also incorporated information from some of the best-known guides and photo histories. He doesn&#039;t include everything that exists, since he has to have seen a copy of it before he can date it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Okay, now to what I can tell... first, the preserver is interesting. That is the part that has the U.S. and British symbols. On pg. 50 of <i>Fixed in Time</i>, 3rd edition (2017), Nolan wrote:</p><p>&quot;The only really interesting preserver is the sixth plate <i>Anglo-American</i> dual patriotic preserver, containing symbols of both countries, opposing each other in pairs: the American Eagle and the British Lion, the Stars &amp; Stripes and the Union Jack, a liberty cap and a royal crown (a great example of cognitive dissonance!). This dates from about <b>1860</b>, plus or minus two or three years.&quot; (boldface added)</p><p><br /></p><p>I was unable to find an exact replica of the mat you are showing here. The inner oval closest to the image of the man doesn&#039;t appear on any mats that are reproduced in the book. However, the rest of the mat has a design similar to several sixth-plate mats that were patented in the late 1850s and early 1860s by several makers.</p><p><br /></p><p>The half case on your piece is shown in the book. Nolan has it as #119 on pg. 183. He calls it Scottish Thistle (sometimes he uses names from other references and sometimes he had to name them himself). He dates the case from 1855-1859.</p><p><br /></p><p>All in all, if these were originally all together and none have been replaced in later years, it seems most likely that the whole package dates from the very late 1850s to the very early 1860s.</p><p><br /></p><p>A free pdf download of the 2017 edition of Nolan&#039;s book is available at</p><p><a href="https://fixedintimebook.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://fixedintimebook.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">https://fixedintimebook.blogspot.com/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>When I went there I learned that he is working on a new enlarged edition, to come out late in 2025. Looking forward to seeing what he has added in the past several years![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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