"Silver Platinum" prints

[TheFlyingCamera]

I was up at the Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand show in New York this past weekend. I saw a number of prints on the wall, most specifically by Stieglitz, labeled "Silver-Platinum Print". I've never heard of this before- anyone have any idea what it could be?

 

[Ian Grant]

It's similar to Gold toning, you can use Platinum or Palladium, it was once common for early printing processes. I've a few formulae in early British Journal (Photographic) Almanacs and other books from the late 19th C.

Ian

 

[payral]

Satista. It' s a developing out technic where you use very little salt (palladium or platinum) and your developer is some Ag Nitrate mixed with glycerin.
Some prints on my website

 

[Ian Grant]

POP,Salt prints, Kalitypes, Albumen prints etc were all treated with Platinum or Palladium as well, They are also SilverPlatinum or Silver Palladium prints.

It was a very common technique.

Ian

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Well, that makes sense then, but the terminology is still a bit misleading - it would make more sense (if the real answer was known) to say "Platinum-toned POP silver gelatin" or whatever. My guess from looking at the prints on display then would be that they were platinum-toned Kallitypes as I really couldn't tell the difference between them and the straight platinum prints on display.

 

[Ian Grant]

A Platinum toned Kallitype will have very similar tonality & archival properties to a Platinum print, I thing Loris Medici goes down this route for some of his images.

Economically it's far cheaper to go down this route as far less Platinum salts are used.

I did a quick check of an 1890's BJP Almanac and there were a lot of Platinum toners listed, some by paper manufacturers, also a few companies were offering platinum prints by enlargement, which I'd guess would actually be fully toned bromide prints.

Ian

 

[Loris Medici]

Well, I would agree with Philippe (a very competent Satista printer) that "Silver Platinum" sounds more like another term for "Satista" process, to my ears. (EDIT: In the context of Steiglitz prints that is...) See this article (by Marek Matusz) for further info.

Regards,
Loris.