Strange Inner Glow: Evocatively Degraded Ninth Plate Ruby Ambrotype of Baby little mouse with a couple of splits

with a couple of splits from shrinkage/expansion on the back side

At either top side of the central darn are initials- MS and AVI

though it would also be great just sitting

(The sharp pins would grip the rug as one worked to pull it into place

Strange Inner Glow: Evocatively Degraded Ninth Plate Ruby Ambrotype of Baby little mouse with a couple of splitsSuch a strange one! This is an foil wrapped, uncased 19th c. ruby ambrotype which, over time, has been transformed in what I find a quite evocative and rather otherworldly way, as if revealing this child's inner light (or its being consumed from within by a pear shaped ectoplasmic blob!) I especially love how the hand at left seems to grip and press into the side of the glowing form. There is no backing aside from a taped perimeter and the foil wrap,