John Stock Wet Plate Holder c.1866

John Stock
Wet Plate Holder
c. 1866

This is the inside of the plate holder with the door open. The metal spring in the middle of the door holds the plate tightly in place when the door is shut. Since the plate holder can only be installed on the back of the camera one way the inside corners are cut out so that the plate can be turned for a horizontal or vertical format. There is a very heavy coating of dried silver collodion that can be seen on the lower corners and the bottom of the holder. The wooden, light protective, dark slide is in place and is also stained with silver collodion that was leaked.