Figure 1.--HBC has found a portrait of an unidentified American boy. He looks to be about 5 years old. He has shoulder-length hair, but they are not done in ringlets. He seems to be wearing a dark forrest green velvet smock. The garment is not shown in detail, so this is only a guess.

HBC has found a portrait of an unidentified American boy. We do not know his name or where he lived. The name Menger is written on the back of the portrait (strecher), but I am not positive that this is the name of the boy's family. He looks to be about 5 years old. He has shoulder-length hair, but they are not done in ringlets. He seems to be wearing a dark forrest green velvet smock. The garment is not shown in detail, so this is only a guess. Boys did not normally have their portraits done in smocks, but this looks to be a rather elegant smock. There appears to be some tassles hanging down from his collar, presimably taking the place of a bow. An E-Bay seller identified it as an ante-bellum portrait, but it looks more recent to us. Ante-bellum collars tended to be quite small. The large Eton-like collar suggests the 1890s.

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Created: December 21, 2003
Last updated: December 21, 2003