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UP FOR sale WE HAVE THEE RAREST, & EARLIEST 18TH CENTURY POLICE MUGSHOTS AVAILABLE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. YES YOU HEARD THAT CORRECTLY.. IN THE WORLD!
The mug shot’s history begins as early as the 1840s, whenprisoners in Belgiumwere photographed so they could be identified if they committed crimes after their sentences ended. Over the following decades, police departments around the world began experimenting with ways to incorporate photography into their work. In the U.S., police createdrogues’ galleriesof mug shots, sometimes evenpublishing themand encouraging upstanding citizens to keep a watchful eye out for troublemakers.
The practice, however, didn’t become standardized until the 1880s, whenAlphonse Bertillon, chief of criminal identification for the Paris police,streamlinedthe process.
IT WASN'T UNTIL THE 1880's BEFORE MUGSHOTS BECAME PART OF REGULAR POLICE PROTOCOL. THIS MAGNIFICENT COLLECTION PRE-DATES THAT BY 20 YEARS ON A FEW, AND 10 PLUS ON THE REST. THESE ARE QUINTESSENTIALLY THEE ORIGINAL MUGSHOTS OF THE 18TH CENTURY. THESE WERE TAKEN IN THE VERY BEGINNING OF IT ALL. BEFORE THIS IDEA OF PHOTOGRAPHING CRIMINALS BECAME MAINSTREAM. THIS BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION IS FROM AN ESTATE OF A RETIRED, NOW DECEASED SHERIFF IN LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY. THESE ORIGINAL MUGSHOTS WERE BEQUEATHED TO THE GENTLEMAN FROM HIS GREAT GRANDFATHER. HIS GREAT GRANDFATHER WORKED AS A POLICE OFFICER IN LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY. PLEASE RESEARCH ONLINE, sale SITES, ETC.. YOU WON'T FIND A MUGSHOT ANYWHERE FOR SALE THAT PRE-DATES THIS COLLECTION. THE ONES THAT DO EXIST ARE EITHER ON EXHIBITION AT VARIOUS MUSEUMS, HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, OR ARE IN PRIVATE HOLDINGS. THEY DO NOT COME UP FOR sale EVER. THEY ARE BEYOND RARE. HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO OWN A PIECE OF HISTORY. ONCE THEY ARE GONE, YOU WON'T SEE ANYTHING LIKE THEM AGAIN. DON'T MISS IT.
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Bertillon’s mug shot consisted of two photographs—one facing the camera, the other in profile—attached to a written description of physical features and certain measurements, such as the size of someone’s ear or foot. Together, these elements were called aportrait parlé, or “speaking image.”
“Bertillon designed the portrait parléin an effort to catch masters of disguise who committed crimes under different aliases,” wrote Shawn Michelle Smith in the journalAperturein 2018. “He proposed that although a repeat offender might conceal his identity, one would be able to discover him if his physical measurements matched those of ‘another’ offender already recorded.”
In 1908, the New York City Police Department compiled a series of images showing how to properly take a mug shot and the accompanying measurements. According to Smith, some of these images even “simulate people who refuse to sit for their mug shots and are wrestled into submission before the camera by multiple men, suggesting that not all subjects would be amenable to these extensive measurements.”
Soon after, “Bertillon’s method of recording anthropometric data lost out to the more reliable process offingerprinting,” wroteSlate’s Julia Felsenthal in 2010.
The mug shot, however, endured.
“Whenever you go through an airport or … a train station … and somebody asks to see your identification document, that all has roots in the late 1800s and the work of people like Bertillon and his contemporaries,” Jonathan Finn, a police photography expert, toldNPR’s Hansi Lo Wang in 2016.
“Mug shot slideshows whose primary purpose is to generate page views will no longer appear on our websites,” Mark Lorando, a managing editor at theHouston Chronicle, told theMarshall Project’s Keri Blakinger in 2020. “We’re better than that.”Among celebrities, mug shots are staples of tabloid gossip. They are “a genre unto themselves, notable for providing that rare opportunity to see the rich and beautiful brought low,” writes theWashington Post’s Gillian Brockell.In specific contexts, such as the civil rights movement, famous mug shots are seen as a mark of integrity.Rosa Parks,Martin Luther King Jr.and many other famous activists had mug shots taken when they were arrested for protesting.
