Photo - degarrotype

When I was getting ready to move 16 years ago, I started going through the garage and to my wonder and amazement, I found an old trunk full of photographs and one of them was a degarrotype.

This was such a fancy case in its day - almost like a leather and wood bound case embellished with designs surrounding a fully opened rose on both sides of the case and on the side were two tiny gold hooks (like miniature Captain Hook's hook) holding the case together by sliding the hook into tiny loops.  Inside was the photo of a man and his daughter; the other side was a very pretty rose and red cloth of velvet - both sides were framed by painted gold swirls and the photo was encased by a gold matt.  It is circa 1850s - the only family member that I had who could have afforded this expensive gem would have been William Meguire who was originally from Pennsylvania.  He had heard Joseph Smith, the prophet of the LDS church speak in Philadelphia and was very impressed so much so that he joined this church and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois.