Tin Type Treasure Trove

My mom passed away a couple years ago and I'm still trying to get through all those boxes of stuff. I swear that woman never threw anything out.

But this evening, I stumbled across 7 tin type photos. They were just stacked on top of each other and piled in a box of the usual photos of people I'd never seen. They obviously are showing the signs of abuse, but these are the only tin types I've ever actually held in my hand.

Since they're not wearing buckskins, I assume these are my dad's ancestors. The men do look kinda like my dad. They came from Belfast to North Carolina, and left there after the Civil War and moved to Oklahoma. I'm guessing these were taken before that move. Here's a couple:



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Does anyone have any experience with these. Other than putting them in the usual protective sleeves, I don't have a clue about storing them, much less about any restoration work that might be possible. Most of them are very dark, as if they continued to 'develop' over time, or were reacting to ambient light (just guessing here).

 

Thanks, Mike. The metal these emulsions are laid on seems to be pretty heavy in lead content, at least based on the color and softness. A couple are crumpled quite a bit simply because of abuse mixed with lack of stiffness. The ones pictured above are the two largest (4"x6 roughly), while some of the others are only about 2 inches across. There doesn't seem to be any 'standard' in size or perspective ratio among them. This is one reason I was already thinking they were from a street vendor rather than an established portrait shop. Plus, that side of the family was poor dirt farmers for the most part.