RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

That was a rather common pose back in the day. Perhaps, in part, because the man is considerably taller than the woman. It also could indicate that he has settled into the "home with the family" mode and her hand on is shoulder is keeping him there.

fdnave Loc: South Jersey

what did you use to colorize? It looks great

MrPhotog

My guess:
She is standing to show the dress better.

Dresses just aren’t made to look good while sitting. All dress forms I’ve ever seen are upright, vertical.

MrPhotog

Albumin prints have a typical gloss that is missing here. Looks like silver/ gelatin.

Test near a border. You can add a drop of warm distilled water to an obscure area of the print face. Wait a few minutes. Gelatin will swell evenly. Hardened albumin won’t swell as much, and will be uneven, depending on the silver density of the area. The distilled water will evaporate cleanly, but may leave a flatter ( less glossy) appearance on a gelatin print if it was originally ferrotyped to give a glossy finish. If it is a matte or textured finish it should be unnoticeable.

You see this metallic surface effect more often on old B & W negatives. I suspect the toning process accentuates it here.

The toner bonds to the metallic silver in the emulsion in a chemical reaction that can create crystals of a silver compound that is more stable than the pure silver generated through the developing process. These are microscopic crystals and can grow out of the gelatin. Think of a patina of rust forming on a polished iron or steel tool. What you see here is the patina developing on old silver images.

All1317

The era when women were second rate

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

"silver threads among the gold." My wife had beautiful blond hair. Now she has gorgeous white hair. Time changes everything.

Chout Loc: Central Texas

Pixbin ColorSurprise AI

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Try this simple app: https://photomyne.com/colorize-app

It's quick and dirty- totally automatic. Works on some kind of algorithm (?)

It's free!

SailAway Loc: Whitehall, Michigan

Beautiful job 13. What did you use to produce such results?

ECoot

That was common for wedding pictures back in the 1800's I have one of my grandparents very much like this.
My great uncle quipped: He was too tired to stand and she was too sore to sit.

stan0301 Loc: Colorado

I’ve always called it silvering - and thought it resulted from silver in the paper reverting to metallic silver - anyway I thought the colorized version looked great

stan0301 Loc: Colorado

Don’t discount wanting to show off her dress

PhilS

Thank you to everyone who responded so quickly to my inquiry. This has been an eye-opener for me, and it has been interesting to read the various perspectives and opinions, and to follow the links that were thoughtfully provided. Here are just a few details that came to mind while reading your comments.

- The original photo that I submitted (not the one taken with the cell phone to show what I now know is silvering) was simply scanned on my Epson Perfection V370 Photo scanner. Settings were for 48-bit color and 600dpi, saved as JPG. All adjustments were the defaults, and I did no post-scanning processing.

- The photo was found in a metal frame behind clear glass. The frame is interesting in that the back cannot be removed easily. The backing is entirely captured by the frame, which is fastened by means of a very small metal tab at the bottom that would have to be folded out (and would never closed as well as when it was manufactured. The photo is placed in the frame by sliding it through a slot in the back, which then positions it behind a matte. The bottom of the photo remains protruding about 1/2" to allow for easy photo removal and insertion without having to disassemble the frame. The photo never touches the glass, and only the very edges of the photo touch the matte. In short, the back does not slide off; instead, the photo slides into the back of the frame.

- The photo had been in an old cedar-lined trunk in a dry, temperature controlled storage unit in Mom's senior living center, along with a lot of loose photos and various combinations of paper folders, more modern frames, etc. I doubt that any materials were was of an archival nature, and probably none had seen the light of day for at least the past 25 years.

- I wonder if the combination of the photo in its existing condition, the frame itself, and the identification on the back of the frame establish provenance that may yield some sort of antique value. Perhaps. Perhaps not!

Thanks again for the feedback