Featured Tintype photos and others

I got an old photo album with Victorian etc. photographs, some tintypes and some on paper with photographers names. These 2 men caught my attention because they both look familiar like I have seen in books before or maybe another lifetime of mine, can't remember exactly. The older gentleman has his name written below, is it B.J. Philman or am I reading it wrong ? The other man looks familiar but maybe a lot of men looked like that in those days, or does anyone recognize him as being anybody well known ?

Thanks for looking friends...

Billy D.

 

Or maybe B.F. Spelman?

 

Okay, I'll check that.

 

I think it might be B.F. Spilman. He was a photographer in Harrodsburg Kentucky and had a patent out with his signature and it looks pretty close. The other photo at first looked like a young Jefferson Davis but I believe the hair is too curly.

 

Nice find QuincyAK10... The picture of B.F. Spilman just kept reminding me of
James Carvile. : )

 

Very cool Quincy. Great eyes man, Thanks for posting this photo of him, I believe it's actually him like you said. Very cool to hear from you..

 

The first guy does look a bit familiar, but that doesn't mean by itself that he was anybody well known. Could you show pictures of the entire photo, with card? And also the back, if there is anything printed or hand written on it.

 

Here you go Figtree3.

 

Don't take this to the bank just yet, but those eyes and the wild hair have been bugging me. He sure does resemble John Brown (famous for the just-pre-Civil War raid at Harpers Ferry.)

 

I won't take to bank just yet. I will do some research on John Brown first, Thanks for this Bakersgma.

 

I thought of John Brown, too. I think that JB had a more pronounced point of hair in the middle of his forehead... but maybe...

 

Not John Brown. Looks more like Jeff Davis, but isn't. He does look familiar, though.

 

I think you are right about someone with a higher forehead.

I think I was influenced as much by the photographer's location (Martinsburg, which is now in West Virginia, is just a stone's throw from Harper's Ferry) as by the general look.

 

I thought of JB right away, but compared some photos and decided "no." He does look familiar, but might not actually be anybody known. Most people who are known seem to either have their names written by collectors, or even to have their names printed on the card mounts. Still, it's worth more discussion

 

I just tried looking for "important people" from that time frame (1850's I'm assuming from the style of his clothing and the fact that it's still "Virginia") in Martinsburg. The Wiki page list was almost completely 20th century.

 

Am I not following here? Thought the photo Quincy posted was Jefferson Davis, to show that the wild-haired fellow in the one photo is not he. The conclusion that the other photo is Spilman because his name is on it seems questionable to me. Think it is as, or more, likely the photo is by him than that it is of him.

 

I would want to know whether that photo with "B. F. Spilman" written under it has a photographer's backmark or not. This CDV appears to be from the 1860s. The stripe around the edge is pretty much diagnostic for an 1860s or very early 1870s card. If it has squared corners and is on a fairly thin card stock, 1860s. If it has rounded corners, more likely early 1870s.

This could be a different B. F. Spilman who has nothing to do with the person who was a photographer. Also, this photograph might be a copy of an older, cased photo (probably a daguerreotype or ambrotype). Something about the look of it makes me think that it is.

@Bronwen , the way the name is written on the photo is more representative of the placement of an identification of the subject of the photo rather than the photographer. Although, anything is possible!

 

Thanks everyone for posting replies with your thoughts. I just realized this on this photo, in very small print it reads at bottom, Strobridge & Co. Lith Cin.

 

I think they are the company that printed the lettering on the back. It's a nice backmark!

I am finding a B. F. Spilman who was a Presbyterian Minister in Illinois in the 1820s-1830s. This is just in a quick search. Since the photo was printed in Cincinnati I would have expected a connection to that city. The photo is much later than the dates I found, but also the man in the photo looks rather elderly and this might also be a copy of an earlier image. So the dates are not out of the question, but the location doesn't seem right.

 

Thanks Figtree3, I appreciate your effort in helping out.