Very rare view of an itinerant photographer's traveling wagon studio. 

Quarter-plate vertical outdoor scene tintype. N.p., ca. 1860s. Housed in a full leatherette case. 

An exciting outdoor tintype that shows two young boys posed in a dusty rural yard with a pack burro directly beside a traveling photographer's mobile studio wagon (or "photo saloon").

Seated astride the pack burro is an older youth wearing a light linen jacket, trousers, and a wide-brimmed straw summer hat, holding the reins loosely. Standing steadfast at the animal's head is his younger brother, dressed in a loose light smock and trousers, his gaze fixed directly into the camera lens. The donkey stands in full pack harness, its large ears and harness straps clearly resolved.

Most significantly, the boys are positioned immediately beside the clapboard side of a horse-drawn traveling photographer's wagon. Visible behind them is a large multi-pane skylight, along with an exterior framed display case hanging on the wagon side to showcase sample tintypes and ambrotypes to prospective patrons.

Itinerant operators traveled the American countryside throughout the 1860s, bringing the photographic medium to small farming communities and frontier settlements far removed from urban studios. While many portraits were produced inside or near these wagons, images that explicitly include the exterior of the photographer's mobile studio and display apparatus itself are exceedingly rare artifact of early American trade history.

[Tintype, Ferrotype, Quarter Plate, Outdoor Photography, Traveling Photographer, Photo Wagon, Photo Saloon, Portable Darkroom, Itinerant Photographer, Sample Board, Boys, Brothers, Burro, Donkey, Pack Mule, Straw Hat, Work Clothes, Cased Image, 1860s Photography, Early Photographic History, Americana]

Very good condition. The tintype exhibits clean contrast and pleasing tones, with virtually no flaws to the plate.