A portrait group documenting a Federal volunteer during and after his military service, highlighted by both an original cased ambrotype and a framed albumen photograph of the same ambrotype.

While hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers sat for cased tintypes before marching south, relatively few commissioned large parlor-sized photographic enlargements from those very plates. To find the original cased sixth-plate intact alongside its period framed enlargement offers a unique material lineage of 19th-century photographic technology and personal commemoration.

The lot includes:

1. Sixth Plate ambrotype, ca. 1861 - 1863. The bearded infantryman is depicted seated in a three-quarters pose wearing a regulation U.S. Pattern 1858 Frock Coat, forage cap, and a leather cartridge box shoulder sling fitted with a circular eagle breastplate. His dark coat and trousers feature subtle, delicate tinting to enhance the uniform's overall appearance.

2. Framed Oval Albumen: Period photographic enlargement on paper, housed within an oval cream card mat with an inner gilt accent ring and an original turned and molded ebonized wooden frame. Frame measures approx. 9 1/2 x 8 in.; sight opening approx. 6 1/2 x 5 in. Produced directly from the sixth plate image, the enlargement reproduces every detail of the soldier’s combat gear with extraordinary clarity, likely commissioned for proud home display while the soldier was away at the front - or, as was common, in memory of his death.

Tipped to the reverse backing of the frame is an original oval portrait showing the same subject in postwar civilian dress, clean-shaven except for a trim mustache and goatee, attired in a dark three-piece suit, high-collared shirt, and patterned cravat.

[Civil War, Union Infantry, Eagle Breastplate, Cartridge Box Belt, Forage Cap, Kepi, Sixth Plate, Tintype, Ferrotype, Cased Image, Solar Enlargement, Albumen Print, Ebonized Frame, Photographic Archive, 1860s Photography]

Very good condition. The ambrotype retains strong clarity and contrast, with oxidation noted around the oval mat opening. The framed albumen exhibits warm, even tones with faint foxing to the card margin, and is housed tightly in an ebonized frame.