Strange Inner Glow: Evocatively Degraded Ninth Plate Ruby Ambrotype of Baby miniature shoe with laces and wear around the edges

and wear around the edges as pictured

I believe this sweet cast lead polar bear was made by Britains

6” t x 1 1/8” wide

with a small chip to the upper right corner of the frame

and pretty great wonkily painted face

Strange Inner Glow: Evocatively Degraded Ninth Plate Ruby Ambrotype of Baby miniature shoe with laces and wear around the edgesSuch 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,