From the hair and clothing about 1880....give or take 10 years....you sure it's not your grandmother...or great grandmother?

Your photo seems to be a tintype. Here is some info on the dates and process which, of course, corroborates Lindac's date estimates. Is there any studio marking on it? It would be nice to find out who it is. Do you have any older relatives who could help you?

Linda, It's not my mother or grandmother. I knew them well! LOL! I also knew my great grandmothers until I was 12.

Viola, I don't see any markings on either the front of the back of the photo. I've only shown it to nearby relatives that are close to my age hoping that one of them recognizes the picture. I'll be seeing an older aunt in the next few weeks and plan to show it to her.

Thank you both for your input!! I think I'll dig out the magnifying glass to see if I can make out some sort of marking. Does the woman look Spanish to either of you or just wearing a decorative head thing?

I saw the comb and thought Spanish....and she could be.
The dates on those pictures is most likely not later than 1885....more like;ly 20 years earlier.
I am 81, my great grandmothers were born about 1865....
My daughter is 57, her great grandmothers were born about 1885.
I don't know how old you are....but this woman in the picture appears to be between 25 and 45.....and if the picture were taken in perhaps 1880....would make her born about 1955....to 1835.
What year was your great grandmother born? Could this be her mother?

Thanks Linda! I'm 62. My mom was born in 1931 and her mother was born in 1912. I'll have to get hold of my uncle to find out when my great grandmother was born, but I was very close to her as a child and I've seen tons of pictures of her when she was young. This photo doesn't look at all like her....she was much more fair. She died when I was 12.

I have a mystery relative as well. A large picture of a lady and a baby and I have no clue who it is, doesn't look like any of the pictures of relatives that I have, but my mother kept it so I'm guessing it IS a relative but who, I don't know! I hope you find out.

Thanks Martha! That must be frustrating to not know who's in your photo. I have a call in to my uncle. He may have a clue for me.

Really looks Victorian, doesn't it?

Of course it may not be a relative @ all - someone may have given it to your mother & wrote her name on it...

Marcy, if your grandmother was born in 1912.....chances are your great grandmother was born about 1880 to 1890.....and her mother, your great great grandmother, 20 to 30 years before that....1850 to 1860>
This picture is one generation older than your great grandmother...or perhaps 2 generations.

Linda, that makes sense!!!

carol, you may be right! Waiting to hear from my uncle!

thanks guys!

As far as the comb...when I was a child in the 1950's, my mother had a blue rhinestone hair comb that looked a bit like this...I think they were in fashion in the USA during Victorian times, not necessarily Spanish origin (perhaps the style was a riff on something Spanish, but I know my mom's was probably from her grandmother and no Spanish connection in my family).

I found this on Ruby Lane with pics of larger, more ornate combs....

"This comb is of the type known as a Spanish mantilla comb or peineta
because it resembles the traditional ornaments worn by Spanish ladies
with their native dress. The very tall Spanish comb has a very long
history of use throughout the 19th century. The production of the opera
Carmen led to a fashion for high Spanish combs in the 1870s, and they
again became the rage during the early 20th century. In some of these
combs the heading might be as much as eight or ten inches in height."

Yeah....Afraid that dealer was "romancing the goods"...Carmen was not an instant hit and the general populace was not attending opera houses for the "latest Bizet hit from France". Opera reflected popular culture, rather than the other way around...i.e. Turandot and the opening of the East and A Masked Ball inspired by the murder of Gustav III....and most people outside of cities and the "cultured" had no knowledge of current operas.

My uncle and his wife are in Gatlinburg TN and will be home Wednesday and he'll check to see when my great grandparents were born. The envelope just said Martha, which was my mothers name. I'll get back to you when I hear from him!

Viola, in your post you said "here's some info on dates and process" for photo but I didn't see a link, did I miss it somehow?

Thanks again for the input!!

My father was born in the early 1890s, and we had a tin type picture of him about 5 or 6 years old

Sheilajoyce, the little boy in this photo looks about that age, doesn't he?

I'm so sorry, Marcy. Thought I had included the link to the Wikipedia article on tintype. Here it is below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintype

Thanks viola! Very interesting!