They wear fine thread and elegant accessories, their hair is neatly parted and pomadized.
One of them looks gently at the partner who is sitting on his lap and has an arm around him.
Your hands are holding each other.
Only a kiss could radiate more connection between two people.
But why does one of them look shyly at the floor?
Should it demonstrate its insecurity?
And who were they two?
One thing is certain: They were more than just friends.
The couple's pose is well staged.
In a photo studio, the men had their love captured in pictures.
The documentary "Carte Cabinet" - a photo glued to cardboard with a format of around 10 by 15 centimeters - was made around 1880, somewhere in the USA.
At that time, intimate relationships among men were not uncommon in higher circles.
Intimate, even erotic gestures tolerated.
Same-sex acts, however, were punishable by the death penalty in most American states.
The line was fine, and so this photograph is not only a testimony to love, but also to courage or recklessness.
2800 photographs from all over the world
More than a century later, Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell discovered the Cabinet card.
She was so captivated by the two that they framed a copy and hung it in their New York home.
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Collectors and custodians: Hugh Nini (left) and Neal Treadwell
Over a period of 20 years, Nini and Treadwell collected around 2,800 photographs of this kind from around the world, the oldest dating from 1850. "As collectors, we learned from these photos that there have always been couples like us."
They are constantly expanding their collection.
The couple rummages in flea markets and family archives, on auction house websites and in antique shops, or asks dealers who specialize in selling old photographs.
$ 2,500 was the highest bid Nini and Treadwell paid for a painting.
However, since the price is not a measure of quality and expressiveness, they do not want to reveal which motive it was.
But it is among the approximately 350 photographs that were first published in her recently published book "Loving - Men who love each other".
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Title: LOVING: Men Who Love Each Other - Photographs from 1850-1950
Publisher: Elisabeth Sandmann Verlag
Number of pages: 336
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On an ordinary Sunday, Nini and Treadwell had a collective fever.
After attending church, the couple was strolling through a junk shop in Dallas when Hugh Nini discovered a cardboard box with old photos in a corner.
The 65-year-old flipped through it and stopped at a snapshot from the twenties: It was photographed out of the thicket, apparently secretly, and shows two young men hugging in front of a house.
One's head rests on the other's shoulder.
Nini and Treadwell realized: The two had a relationship that went beyond affection and camaraderie.
"We were fascinated that such a photo could survive into the 21st century."
From then on, the two began to search specifically for photos of homosexuals who long ago dared to leave evidence of their forbidden love.
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"Always Yours": The second picture in the collection
Photo: Nini / Treadwell
Nini and Treadwell came across their second photo about a year later while on vacation in California.
It is only the size of a thumbnail and shows two young soldiers around 1940. One indication gave the certainty that the men were in love with one another: "Always Yours" was written under the souvenir in the small glass frame .
Another picture from the Nini Treadwell collection leaves no room for doubt as to what feelings the nameless people depicted felt for one another: Two young men, around 20 years old, hold a sign in the camera that reads: "Not married, but willing to "(" Not married, but ready to do so ").
The spectacular: The photograph was taken in the 1970s.
"It's amazing that a couple of men could imagine themselves married more than a century ago," says ballet teacher Hugh Nini, explaining why this picture is his favorite.
The recordings often show cowboys, sailors, soldiers.
In these circles women were rare or even non-existent.
So it was not uncommon for men to seek comfort and closeness here among one another.
How could Nini and Treadwell, decades later, just by looking at the pictures, be sure that the couple had more than just deep friendship?
Treadwell said: "When two people fall in love, they can't hide it. It shows in their eyes."
One could not fake this look, and it was always the decisive criterion whether a portrait was included in the fund.
The collection now spans more than a century, including images from the time of the American Civil War and World War II, and includes cabinet cards and traditional photographs as well as ferrotypes, postcards, photo strips, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes.
Nini and Treadwell hadn't shared their archives with anyone because they thought no one would want to see anything like this.
But the reactions were "heartwarming" and there was encouragement from all sides: "Whether gay or straight, old or young, male or female, married or single, conservative or progressive - it seems to appeal to everyone," said the "Loving" -Editor firmly surprised.
Nini and Treadwell keep their paper treasure in a fire-proof safe, neatly glued into eleven thick, black albums.
"We'll never have enough! We think we'll need another safe soon," jokes Neal Treadwell.
He and his husband are already planning a second illustrated book: The book will show men in the military.
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