American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Sixth plate portrait of inventor Charles H. Dana seated next to his patented corn planter with patent label visible. (Light tarnishing to edges, some surface scratches and horizontal wipes to plate; unsealed.) Housed in a fully separated pressed paper case (split at spine). Though not entirely discernable even under magnification, the label features the name of the invention, the patent date of Sept. [4, 1854], the inventor's name, and the location "W. Lebanon, N.H." 

Sixth plate seated portrait of Dana, here featured without the partial goatee he sports in the first image, but with the same sideburns and hairstyle. (Light tarnishing and very minor scratches along mat opening; resealed with yellowed tape.) Housed in a fully separated pressed paper case (split at spine). 

4 1/4 x 5 1/2 in. loose tintype, copied from an earlier cased image, featuring an elderly Dana holding up his corn planter diagonally across his torso with both hands, presenting it to the camera. The patent label is also visible in this image, but it is not sharply focused enough to be at all discernable even under magnification.

Charles H. Dana (1830-1915) was lauded in an obituary as having developed "inventive genius" early on in his life, receiving two patents in 1854 for a potato digger and a corn planter. The more successful of the two, the corn planter, went on to be "extensively used throughout the country..." Dana continued inventing, and he ended up receiving 15 patents and multiple awards for his inventions including a medal and diplomat at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, 1876. 

Dana's corn planter is promoted in a broadside housed at the Library of Congress describing it as a "Valuable Invention! Highly important To Farmers!" Drawings of the planter are flanked by plentiful text boasting, in part: 

The cheapness, simplicity and ingenuity of its construction, together with the wonderful accuracy & dispatch with which it executes its work on every variety of soil, are a sufficient guarantee that this Machine will soon take the place of both the Horse Planter and the Hoe in the work of planting Corn. It has been tested the past season by numerous farmers in New Hampshire and Vermont, who unite in giving it their decided preference over all other Planters ever introduced into the country. It has been presented at several Agricultural Fairs, and always, without exception, received the highest premium.

Lot accompanied by a printed image of the broadside held at the LOC, along with research on Charles H. Dana and an enhanced digital photograph of the patent label as seen in the first daguerreotype.