Early 19th century Peale Museum silhouettes of a gentleman and a lady. Impressed “Museum” stamp on the lady and a pencil signed family name at the bottom edge on the gentleman. Approximately 4 3/4-inches by-3 1/2 inches. Price: $380 (pair)

Prior to the spread of the silhouette, only the very wealthy could enjoy the luxury of portraiture. That changed in 1802, when John Isaac Hawkins patented a version of a physionotrace that reproduced silhouette tracings in miniature on small pieces of paper.

Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) installed a Hawkins physionotrace in his Philadelphia Museum as an early kind of visitor interactive where the machine-aided, hand-finished souvenir silhouettes became a public sensation.

May be seen at: Antiques Bel Air – Lowry Hill, 1758 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403