QUARTERPLATE DAGUERREOYPE US DRAGOON 1st LIEUTENANT WITH M1840 SABER

QUARTERPLATE DAGUERREOYPE US DRAGOON 1st LIEUTENANT WITH M1840 SABER

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$1,750.00 ON HOLD

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 2025-1893

This is a great, large- quarterplate size- cased daguerreotype of a U.S. Army officer proudly showing off a U.S. M1840 “Heavy Cavalry” saber, recognizable not only from the substantial scabbard, but heavy guard branches and configuration of the grip, which is partially visible. Dating to the 1840s or early 1850s the image shows a young officer wearing a fashionable muttonchop sideburns and mustache likely intended to give him a more mature look. He is shown seated, half-length, wears the single-breasted frock coat of a line officer, and clearly shows the shoulder straps of a First Lieutenant, with image perhaps commemorating a promotion, or reassignment to the most dashing branch of service. The shoulder straps show a dark ground, but colors register differently in black-and-white daguerreotypes and we can’t rule out a non-regulation use of the sword by a mounted officer servicing in another capacity, but the saber clearly points to service in the dragoons.

The silvered plate shows some minor tarnish around the perimeter, next to the brass mat, but this affects only the sitter’s hand at the bottom of the image, where he grasps the lower portion of the scabbard to steady the saber for the photograph. The image is a tad light on the left, but the officer is clearly resting his other elbow on something to steady the pose, and the clarity and resolution are quite good from that coat cuff and shoulder over, with strong facial detail, his hand clearly visible inside the branches of the sword guard, etc.

The image is glassed, matted, framed and housed in a brown leatherette case fastened by two latches, with gilt blind-stamped decoration around the edges, inside and out, impressed on the cover with a foliate lyre-shaped design and with an immaculate red velvet facing pad inside impressed with a flower and leafy stem. The exterior of the case shows just some minor scuffs. The hinge is good. As typical of early images, the mat is gilt brass, with a simple oval opening, and is plain, without the impressed decoration used on later thin brass mats.

This is a wonderful image for the photographic collector, a pre-war regular army display, Mexican War era collection, or a edged weapons collection where it would really stand out next to a M1840 cavalry saber, which it most clearly displays.  [sr] [ph:L]

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