Tintypes

"The tintype was developed by Hamilton L. Smith of Kenyon College, Ohio, and patented by him in 1856. . . The tintype, like the ambrotype, was a particular application of Archer's wet collodion process. It, too, was a direct positive image that was necessarily laterally reversed. Instead of being on glass, however, tintypes were on thin sheet iron that had been lacquered black or chocolate brown. . . Tintypes. . . were less expensive than daguerreotypes or ambrotypes, though they were sometimes put into cases as well." From Photographs: Archival Care and Management, Ritzenthaler and O'Conner, 2006.