What types of images do you all prefer to collect - daguerreotypes, tintypes, albumen prints (cartes de visite, cabinet cards) or other media/formats?

It all started with a CdV...

Now I have a nice little stack of albumen prints from the early Norwegian landscape photographers (Knut Knudsen, Anders Beer Wilse), a ca. 1860 French cyanotype, a couple of ca. 1910 commercial platinum prints, a small daguerreotype, and a BIG stack of CdV's.

Dags are my preference, with tins a close second. I guess in part it is because of the relative availability of them here in the US. I think all but one of my dags are 1/6 plate, with one 1/4 plate. I've got cased tins from half-plate to 1/9th plate, and some random loose un-cased tins in random sizes. I've got two ambrotypes now also - one cased, one that probably was, but now is missing the case, mat and everything else. The inspiration to start was a 1/8 plate cased tin of an ancestor of mine, a soldier from the 76th Pennsylvania infantry regiment, which I inherited.

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I am interested in and collect old color transparency images such as autochromes and other screen processes, Lippmann images, stereo images of all types in many subject areas, including Paris Expo 1900, Paris 1871, science, natural history... and also images in any format (stereo, C-d-V, etc) and any subject (I have stereos of the ruins of the Chicago fire) by S., Samuel or Simon Alschuler.

For those interested, I started a blog about my photography, including my vintage image collecting. Lately I've been doing a lot more CDVs, which are a lot of fun - the original baseball cards! Mostly I've been buying anonymous subjects, by known photographers. I've got a half-dozen/seven Mathew Brady CDVs, a Gurney & Sons, and a pair of Bogardus CDVs. A couple of circus performers (midget woman and fat lady), some famous and/or rich people (generals, actors, heiresses). I've created two google maps with the addresses of studios in New York and Philadelphia from the Daguerrian era through the end of the CDV era, and they're linked on my blog - http://dcphotoartist.wordpress.com if you're interested.

I have a mix of cartes de visite and cabinet cards, with a few tintypes and daguerreotypes thrown in. I started when I was working for a used & rare book dealer in Providence, RI; as a consequence of buying the contents of houses and estates, he would often end up with 19th century family albums. It always seemed sad to me that folks would sell these. I would wind up "adopting" the images/faces which appealed to me most. I now have quite a collection, some of which can be seen here in my Flickr photostream.

I prefer paper based prints,
Specifically in the 8x10 format.
But in reality I have all sizes and processes.
If it is a good image.... I want it regardless of size or format.

Photographic postcards are my medium of choice. Preferably amateur made or interesting, small town commercial work done by locals. I do have a few made by larger publishing companies, but they are the least interesting to me.

Ed