Antique Photo on Copper Printing Plate (Wood Block Mount)

This antique copper printing plate once held a story—pressed ink to paper, image to eye. Mounted on its original wood block, the plate features a photographic likeness rendered in photogravure, a process prized for its depth, warmth, and quiet dignity. You can still feel the weight of its purpose: to preserve a face, a moment, a name that mattered.

The copper has aged with grace, its surface darkened by time and touch. Tap it gently and it rings with the soft clarity of something once essential. The wood block beneath is worn smooth at the edges, a reminder that this piece was not just made—but used, handled, and held.

This listing includes:

• 4 original copper printing plates, each mounted on wood

• 9 cardboard photographic negatives—ghostly impressions of faces and moments long past

• 1 vintage storage box (non-photographic in origin), used to house the collection over time

No information is known about the individuals captured in the negatives. Their names, stories, and connections have been lost to time—but their presence remains, quiet and unresolved, like a question left open in the margins of history.

Whether displayed as sculptural objects or tucked into a cabinet of curiosities, these pieces invite reflection. They’re relics of a slower world, when photographs were precious and permanence was etched by hand.

At The Keepsake Cabinet, we believe in honoring the tools of memory as much as the memories themselves. This set is one of those tools—quiet, beautiful, and enduring.