Jim Page, I agree completely, It's definitely the DA version of the Model 1858. I had forgotten that tintypes were mirror images and wondered why the left side of the pistol had all the goodies on it. Strange weapon indeed.

Tell me why.
?

[Because in those days, male friends were able to do that without people asking, "Why?" -tterrace]

When you behold your Daguerreotyped likeness, you behold your countenance as you have come to know and love it in your favorite mirror, pond, or other reflective device. It's only other people who will note a discrepancy.

Thanks Dave for the explanation as to why these old images should remain backwards. I wasn't aware, due to everyday ignorance of the subject, of the esthetic you mentioned. Now I know. SHORPY.com forever.

Understood. Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. Got it. But, why wouldn't SHORPY reverse the digital image so the viewer would get an accurate version of that particular 1860's reality? Or, is it in the interest of historical photographic accuracy that SHORPY leaves it the way it was created back then?

[Because that's the way these boys have looked for the past 150 years, behind glass in their ornate frames, locked in mirror image for all eternity. Unless popular opinion says otherwise! But really, backwardness is part of the tintype-daguerreotype esthetic. - Dave]

Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism.

[A point that bears repeating! - Dave]

Buttons on mens clothing are always on the right side of the shirt, vest and coat - then and now.

[Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. - Dave]

unless Union uniforms buttoned up the girl side. Also, the amount of space behind the pistol's trigger means it's the double-action model.

[Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. - Dave]

Yes, the picture is flipped left to right. One way to tell is that the buttons appear on the wrong side of their clothing, though that could conceivably be accounted for some other way. However, that's the right side of the pistol we can see in the picture; definite proof that the picture is flipped.

Similarly, it's from the rifle Billy the Kid is holding that we're absolutely certain the famous picture of him was flipped and he was not left handed.

[Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. - Dave]

Unless men's clothing styles have changed radically since the 1860s, this picture is indeed reversed.

Note how all the coats and waistcoats are buttoned right over left, whereas men's clothes traditionally button left over right.

[Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. - Dave]

History_Fan, I agree it's a Starr .44 pistol, but it looks more like the double-action model to me. Do you think it could be that model?

Their buttons are backwards so the posted image is backwards.

[Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. - Dave]

Starr arms is a rather unusual civil war revolver - from Binghamton NY. Dixie gun works sells a reproduction, and I won't plagiarize their description of the unusual action - other than to say the trigger you see doesn't actually fire the revolver.

Well, if I'm not mistaken, men's shirts and coats have the buttons sewn on the right side (looking down as you wear the shirt)and the holes or loops are on the left. Looks like it might be backwards after all.

[Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. - Dave]

You can tell because the buttons appear on the left side of the jackets.

[Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. - Dave]

Almost all Daguerreotypes are flipped left right, so it's a good bet this one is too.

[This is a tintype. - Dave]

Can anyone tell if this picture is posted backwards? If so, how do you know?

[Tintypes, being camera-original positives, will always be reversed unless the camera was fitted with a mirror or prism. - Dave]

The soldier's pistol is interesting and rather odd looking. I believe it to be a fancier version of the Starr Model 1863 Single Action Army in .44 cal.

Anyone have a better guess?

The guy on the left is cracking up.

Everyone is touching someone else except the fellow on the right... wonder why?

Fascinating to note the cultural differences evident in the poses of these young men compared with what one would see today. The man in the center holding the hand of the man standing behind him, and the man sitting at left with his hand on the upper leg of the man in the center are things you just wouldn't see in these more self-concious times.

It doesn't look to me as if the man with the gun is actually pointing it at ANYTHING; rather, he seems simply to be holding it in a manner of display that was quite common in that era.

Don't ask, don't tell -- or I'll kill you....

Can you imagine straight guys today posing casually with their hands on one another's thighs and holding hands?