Steel Plate Negative

[ssim]

This is for those that have been around awhile or are keenly into photo history. My sister was at an auction and bought a box of junk and in it she found a wood block with a piece of steel glued to it that has a negative in it. I am just looking for a name or type of negative this would be. It is about 2"x3" and the steel plate itself is about 3/8" thick. I'm not at home right now so I can't post a shot of it. I have googled alot and am not finding the right info. It looks to be from the 1930ish era.

Anyone care to take a guess at it.

[JWright]

Sounds like it might be a lithographic printing plate of some type.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithograph

[FlyingPhotog]

I think John's got it nailed...

Any text of any kind on your find and does it read backwards?

[20droger]

If it's glued to a wooden block, John's almost assuredly correct. The wooden block brought the overall thickness to type height.

Also, it's probably zinc, not steel (you can test it with a magnet). Zinc was almost always used, as it was much easier to etch. But steel is possible, just much more expensive.

[ssim]

I had a look at what a lithograph really means and all the examples that I saw seemed to be hand etched drawings and this one that I have is more of a photograph. I will post a shot of it when I get home in a day or two.

[FlyingPhotog]

I had a look at what a lithograph really means and all the examples that I saw seemed to be hand etched drawings and this one that I have is more of a photograph. I will post a shot of it when I get home in a day or two.

Could have been an acid etched negative transfer...

Photo Lithography?

[DrPablo]

Go to http://www.apug.org, there are some experts there that can give you some info.