Daguerreotype portrait, 3 x 3 3/4 inches, ca. 1850s. Period wood oval frame,  approximately 5 7/16 x 6 5/16 inches. Reverse of frame inscribed "Wm. Lest (?) Murphy," a possible identification.

Charming 1850s daguerreotype of a little boy posed beside a "parade-sized" US flag. The canton appears to have 31 stars arranged in a manner reminiscent of the medallion pattern, with a slightly larger star in the center. Flags predating the Civil War are the rarest and most desirable of all US flags, primarily because Americans did not commonly display flags for patriotic purposes before the 1860s. Finding a daguerreotype that features such a flag is extremely difficult, making this a unique acquisition opportunity.

The image itself is well done and depicts the boy with one hand resting on the photographer's table and the other in his pocket. An inscription on the rear of the frame reads, "Wm. Lest (?) Murphy," which may be the sitter's name. Regardless, this is a patriotic image from a time when such displays were not particularly common, especially not in photographs. 

[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] [Flags, Patriotic Textiles]