When these chow images first came up at auction I fell immediately in love!! What incredible quality for these early Edwardian era (1890s-1900) FRAGILE glass plate negatives, originating from the southern coast of England. Scanned and then “inversed” to create a “positive” image, I could not believe the quality of the photography and can’t help but ponder if these could be the work of the famous dog photographer Thomas Fall in England. He was genius at capturing each breed’s personality and attitude, photographing famous show dogs and the canines of Royalty and Celebrity. During the 1890s he was commissioned by the Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra, to photograph her with her dogs (including her chow Plumpie) earning his company a Royal Warrant. Thomas Fall died in 1900.
No matter who the photographer might be, these 2 images are priceless treasures to me. I have tried numerous times to purchase glass plate negatives from England and each time they arrived damaged….they are just so fragile and thin and quite expensive. A couple of weeks ago, fellow chowist Christine Cameron spotted these at auction and pointed them out to me, after I had pretty much resigned myself to never attempting to bid on another glass negative. Once the seed was planted again by Chris, I couldn’t fight temptation any longer and bought them. I won’t hesitate again if the price is reasonable like these were….well worth the risk in my opinion!!!!
The detail on these plates is amazing! I can almost feel his coat and smell the grass. Incredible find!