456.     [PHOTOGRAPHY]. [CIVIL WAR]. [CONFEDERACY]. Three-quarter portrait of armed Confederate infantryman. 6th plate ambrotype in original dark brown case. Hand coloring on cheeks, uniform buttons, and star on kepi. Visible image: 6.8 x 5.4 cm; case: 9.4 x 8.2 cm. N.p., n.d. [ca. 1861]. Other than mat marks at blank upper edge and corner, very good to excellent. Hinge of case broken with lid separated, a bit of dried adhesive on velvet pad.

     This soldier’s uniform and hat indicate that he may be a Texas soldier, with a five-point star attached to his kepi (although soldiers from other Confederate states sometimes wore a star insignia on their headgear). He is holding a musket with unsheathed bayonet and wearing an eight-button frock coat with branch of service trim on coat, cuffs and collar, and a leather waist belt with typical Confederate frame buckle. Ambrotypes, or collodion positives on glass, were most commonly produced from about 1855 to 1865 and are typically sharp and clear images, as is this portrait. Because of the glass medium and narrow time range in which they were created, ambrotypes are vulnerable to damage and loss. "The most difficult difficult images to locate of Confederates are from Texas, Arkansas, Missouri" (Lawrence T. Jones III).

($2,000-4,000)

Auction 22 Abstracts