I have recently acquired a daguerrotype stereoview of Scottish provenance. It shows three men round a table on which is an early Brewster stereoscope, a D&S black and white litho view and possibly a daguerrotype stereo, plus some small tools which could be burnishing tools of the gilding trade.
The similarity between the central figure and Wilson's self portraits, prior to the beard, caught my eye. I was delighted to find that the older figure is a reasonable match to John Hay senior (gilder and framer) in Wilson's composite view of famous Aberdonians (a portrait taken a few years later and after Hay's bankruptcy). Interestingly, in the composite picture he is the only one with his hand to his face exactly like in the dag.
The third person in such a group would have to be John Hay junior, Wilson's partner in 1853-54.
So has anyone seen any likenesses of John Hay junior to complete the set and confirm my postulate?
Thanks for any insights
Peter Blair
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I have now found images of John Hay junior and they are not similar to the third man in the image, so now I believe that John Hay junior is the photographer. The third man has a passing resemblance to David Hay, the elder brother, however images available for him are some 20-30 years later and so a definitive identification is not possible.
Just wondered if you had been able to identify the sculpture in the stereocard? That might provide a clue. Even unidentified it's a great stereo-dag.
Yes - it is a Duboscq Soleil litho copy of a dag stereo that Denis Pellerin kindly identified as "Groupe de Laocoon" - a classical statue that resides in the Vatican. In a DS stereo catalogue published in Feb 1852 it is number 9 on the list. Unfortunately it doesn't help much with identifying the people inthe image.