Platinum Photographic Paper Company - St. Paul, Minnesota 1901

Beautifully printed certificate #88 from the Platinum Photographic Paper Company issued in 1901. This historic document has the company's name on top center and is hand signed by the Company's President, T. Lyon and its Secretary and is over 104 years old.

Unlike the silver print process, platinum lies on the paper surface, while silver lies in a gelatin or albumen emulsion that coats the paper. As a result, since no gelatin emulsion is used, the final platinum image is absolutely matte with a deposit of platinum (and/or palladium, its sister element which is also used in most platinum photographs) absorbed slightly into the paper. In 1873, thirty-four years after Louis Daguerre in Paris and William Henry Fox Talbot in London presented the discovery of photography to the world, the platinum process of printing photographs was patented.

Although difficult and costly to create, platinum prints are the sine qua non of photographic art. Over the years, the only obstacle to widespread enjoyment of platinum has been lack of access to this rare process. And it is the visual value, the tremendous tonal range, that makes platinum prints so extraordinary.