A photograph made on an iron plate coated with a dark enamel or lacquer, popular in the 19th century as a cheap alternative to other photographic methods.
From 'ferro-' (iron) + 'type' (from Greek typos, impression). Despite the name, ferrotypes were sometimes called 'tintypes' because they were thought to use tin, though iron was the actual base metal.
Ferrotypes are super durable—many from the 1860s Civil War era survive in perfect condition today, which is why museums have hundreds of them! But the name is misleading: people called them 'tintypes' thinking they were made of tin, when they were really made of iron.
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