© 2003 Marni Landes.

Ferrotypes

Ferrotypes are an early form of photography where the photographic emulsion is on a metal sheet. Ferrotypes first were used as political memorabilia in the 1860 presidential campaign. Most commonly they are round photographs held in a thin metal frame (shell). The frame is usually perforated with a small hole so that the ferrotype may be attached to clothing or jewelry. As photography advanced and photographic prints became more common, shell badges containing photographs on cardboard replaced ferrotypes. Although they continued to be used through the end of the nineteenth century, they were rarely used after 1880. They are actually a subset of shell badges, but they are such an important and popular political collectible that they are being treated here as a category of their own.

Often a ferrotype has the presidential candidate on the obverse and the vice-presidential candidate on the reverse. In the two examples shown in this section, both are Lincoln ferrotypes. However, it should be noted that they are for different elections and have different vice-presidential candidates on the reverse. As a group, ferrotypes are one of the most valuable and desirable of all political memorabilia. It is interesting to note that Lincoln ferrotypes are extremely desirable and valuable because of the popularity of Abraham Lincoln while those of his rivals are less valuable though much rarer.

(L to R) Abraham Lincoln ferrotypes Obv., 1860 and 1864