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This wonderful family Daguerotype shows the children of an unidentified family. The posture suggests a close-knit family. We woild guess that they are about 5-15 years of age. The older girl's lomg dress is one reason she may be 15 years old, perhps even age 16. We see a range of clothing styles, but unfortunately the portrait is undated. This is a problem we face with most of the Dags we have archived. It is a major problem in dating 1840s-50s fashions. The boys wear the collar-buttoning military-style jackets tht were so popular in the mid-19th century. We think a dating clue is that the boys seem to be wearing matching pants--at least based on the older boy as we can see his pants. This would suggest the 1850s more than the 40s, perhps even the early-60s. Note the younger boy's jacket is done with cut away styling. We have never seen this styling before. Notice the small white collars without neckwear. We also believe this was more common in the 50s than 40s. The girls of course wer dresses. The younger girl who hold a great porcelin doll wears a short dress wih her legs covered by pantalttes. We are not sure how to date this, but believe it was the fashion in the 40s and 50s. Here we knw less about girls' styles. Another feature of the girls' defined-waist dresses is the low necklines. We thought this was more common in the 40s than the 50s, but are not at all sure about this. Note the older girl's neckline is edged with lace. This seems more common in the 50s than the 40s. The girls' dresses are very plain, but we see smocking on the older girl's dress. Hopefully HBC readers might have some insights here. This is a large 1/2 plate Dag and the case measures about 4.75 x 6 inches.
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