This has got to be my all-time favorite Shorpy.com submission, if not one of the neatest photos I've ever seen. Aside from the very intimate view of something that most of us would otherwise never see being done, the photo itself has so much going on. I love the looks of respectful concentration on the men's faces, and how they have their own brand of serenity amid a completely different type of "peace."

The other death masks in the background, sitting in neat rows on the shelves and slightly out of focus, add the slightest touch of the macabre. Well done GGB and well done team Shorpy!

I tried to make a "life mask" once in an art class...it's not easy. Of course it helps if the subject holds very still. The board supporting the plaster looks like a good technique - we had the subjects lie on their backs and used soda straws in the nostrils so we didn't end up with an accidental death mask.

Wikipedia article.

I worked for Unclaimed Property for the State of California, and we got one of these death masks in one of the safe deposit boxes. Not only does it look like death, it smells like death too. Fascinating, but nasty.

Wow, I always wanted to know how they did this.