Ninth plate half-length studio portrait ambrotype portrait. N.p., mid-19th century. Half leatherette case. Hand-gilt. 

A well-composed picture of a musician wearing a kepi and jacket with hand-gilt buttons. He looks directly at the lens while tightly grasping his saxhorn, also hand-gilt. Saxhorns were popular instruments from the 1850s until the 1880s and featured prominently during the Civil War. They were produced as a complete family of instruments, ranging from large contrabass tuba-like instruments to soprano "cornet" models like the one depicted here. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards]