Figure 1.--The I.G. Davidson studio in Portland, Oregon we think in he 1870s offered CDV duplicates at 12 for $2.00. This was about $0.15 each, a small fraction of the cost of the early formats

A very important aspect of the new labumen format was cost. Early photographic formats created high-quality images. This included Daguereotypes, Ambrotypes and tintupes. Dags were expensive, primarily because of the pollished copper plates used. We see costs of bout $5.00 each, a substabtial sum in the mid-19th century--abou5 $200 in 2025 dollars--even more if calulasted in gold. Ambros and especially tin-types were less expensive, but you till go only one take. This changed remarkably with the appearance of the ambro negative process and printing on paper. We note an Oregon studio offering 12 CDV prints for $2.00 or about $0.15 each we think in he 1870s (figure 1). This may ee incredibky cheap, but an inflation adjusted 1870 dollar is about $25 in 2026 dollars. There are a range in inbflation caculators giving various results , but the point is that an 1870 dollar was not the pitance of the modern dollar. And that was a huge decline in price feom he price of a Dag. It meant not only that many more images were made, but that a much wider swath of society could afford to have photogrphic portrairts taken in studios and duplcates made. The larger cabinet car prints were only slightly more expensive. And the stereo view cards which we see in numbers could be made inexpensively in quantity. We note another studio, this one a studio in Wisconsin in the 1890s offering a dozen copies for a $1.50, slightly cheaper. Now $!.00 was worth a lot more in the 19th century, especially in the 1870s. An inflation sujsted 1890 dollar would be worth asbout $35 in 2026 dollars. But it also needs to be conidered tht the American economy had geown expomntially in the 19h century snd by the end of the decade, A,erica had become the nost prosperou country on earth whithmost Amerivans earming more and leading more prosperous libes than earlier in the century. The vast majority of Americans ny the 1890s could aford a studio poetraits and multiple copies to send to family and friends. Portrasts could cost more. A high-class studio in a major city coulkd be nore exoensive. But these are the prices common at the average American studios.

Created: 8:10 AM 11/23/2012
Last updated: 7:20 PM 9/3/2026