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Cased photographs are among the earliest forms of commercially available photography. Cased photographs were common in the mid-19th century and feature a photograph mounted in a shallow, hinged box, which was commonly made from leather, cloth, or composite thermoplastic (known as union cases) and lined in velvet. The most common early photographic processes, daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, were fragile mediums and the cases provided protection for the photographs. More stable later formats, particularly tintypes and cabinet photographs, were also sometimes cased throughout the later half of the 19th century.

Daguerreotypes were the earliest form of cased photograph. This technique was in common use from 1839 to the early 1860s. Daguerreotypes are made on a silver-coated copper plate developed using mercury fumes. They have a distinctive reflective surface with a laterally reversed image. Daguerreotypes were commonly topped with a glass plate and sealed to protect the photographic surface.

Ambrotypes were in common use from 1854 to the mid-1870s. They are made on glass using a wet-collodion process and backed with a dark finish to give the appearance of a positive photograph. Ambrotypes were commonly hand-tinted and mounted in a hinged case.

Tintypes (ferrotypes) were in common use from 1856 to the 1930s. They are made on a black varnished metal base, typically iron, using a wet-collodion process. Tintypes create a direct-positive photograph that is lighter in weight and more durable than previous formats. They were commonly cased, but are also often found in paper mats or uncased.