Ninth plate hand-gilt ambrotype. Full thermoplastic case. 

An exceptionally well-executed hand-gilt ambrotype portrait of a young Yankee cavalryman dressed in a regulation Union cavalry musician's shell jacket and armed with his sword. The photographer painstakingly touched each line of herringbone trim with gold gilt. With the subject seated close to the operator's lens, a tremendous amount of detail was captured, from the shiny, upturned brim of his cap, to his thin white gloves, to the tight grip on his sword, to his wide-eyed expression. 

[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] [Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Civil War Musicians, Drummer Boys, Fyfes, Saxhorns, Civil War Music, Music History]