Dark and Moody Early Tintype of Two China Dolls and their Bed heirloom A bit of surface peeling

A bit of surface peeling along the far left edge of the Blériot image

I think it is really a beautiful thing

as seems just right

1 5/8" t x 1 5/8" d x 2 1/8" across at handle

Dark and Moody Early Tintype of Two China Dolls and their Bed heirloom A bit of surface peelingDoesn't get much moodier than this one, feeling almost like a post mortem of these two dolls! Early photographs of girls with their dolls are not too hard to come by, but much rarer to find portraits of dolls alone, and here a pair, both with painted porcelain heads and porcelain arms, but slightly different from one another (I'd call the one at left the older sister!) And with what looks like a doll bed behind them, which they are leaning up against.