Cheap mass produced toys appeared about 1850 which were mainly manufactured in Germany and exported to the rest of the world. America and Britain also produced tinplates from 1890 which were often referred to as penny toys.
These haunting photographic keepsakes first appeared in 1837. The process was invented by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre who was born near Paris in 1787. Silver-plated copper sheets were treated with iodine which made them sensitive to light.