Young Boy with Confederate Kepi?

Forrest

Sergeant
Joined
Sep 25, 2015
1/9 plate Ruby ambrotype, florid preserver and ornate nonpareil mat (1860's), 'Olivia's Boquet' case (1858).

To me this looks like a light-colored Kepi with the brim turned up.

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Agreed, I love the faces. I picked this up from a blurry scan, hoping the boy's hat was a baseball cap - baseball-related ambrotypes are scarce. My collecting focus with ambros and dags has been 'natural poses' - pictures that could have been taken today (if we did anything other than 'selfies') - and children tended to lend themselves more toward that. The adults were too focused on looking like subjects in a painting.

Thanks for your response. I'm surprised no one had an opinion on this, but maybe that just means that my thoughts are correct.
 
My collecting focus with ambros and dags has been 'natural poses' - pictures that could have been taken today (if we did anything other than 'selfies') - and children tended to lend themselves more toward that.
You know, that is also what ran through my head when I saw this. I like the arm drape over the companion's shoulder.

The boy on the right ~ is that a ring on his finger? It struck me because it looks like a wedding band, but it can't possibly be that. Unless it's the ring of a loved one, kept in remembrance.
 
Poor little guy on the left looks like he's in his underwear! Maybe he had a major spill on the way to the studio! I agree, it does look like a kepi
 
Poor little guy on the left looks like he's in his underwear! Maybe he had a major spill on the way to the studio! I agree, it does look like a kepi

I had the same thought regarding the underwear - very strange.

You know, that is also what ran through my head when I saw this. I like the arm drape over the companion's shoulder.

The boy on the right ~ is that a ring on his finger? It struck me because it looks like a wedding band, but it can't possibly be that. Unless it's the ring of a loved one, kept in remembrance.

With ambros, if the image is on the outside it's reverse, so the ring is actually on his right hand. I have a few ambros where the image side of the glass is against the backing, so they are not reversed - this one is a ruby, so dark glass all the way through.
 
While we are on the topic of cute Civil War era kids, here is another 1/9 plate ruby ambrotype of a Civil War-era child. The photo is interesting because of the man to the right (would have been outside of the oval mat), but look what the kid is brandishing. I'm thinking the kid wanted his photo taken so that he would look like a soldier, similar to the photos of soldiers holding knives or guns.

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If you look at their eyes, one can tell they must be related. Eyes always give relations away. I have some old photos of great grandparents. I have compared their eyes with my father when his grandparents and eyes when my Mom's grandparent. Then I compare photos of myself. There is such resemblances .
 
I see what you are saying, but I got these photos from two unrelated sources.
 
The boy on the right ~ is that a ring on his finger? It struck me because it looks like a wedding band, but it can't possibly be that. Unless it's the ring of a loved one, kept in remembrance.

The wedding band use in Victorian times isnt the same as it is in normal social habits like today. In that era the male typically didn't have or wear one, usually only the female did. If the male received a gift of a ring from his bride, it was usually worn on the left pinky... adopting the growing habit found in Victorian England... However presence of a pinky ring didn't always indicate the subject was married... the habit was also used for a host of different reasons including affiliation with assorted vocational, or fraternal organizations, or just a plain ole fashion statement... occasionally will see them worn by kids or young men on other fingers... assumed whatever it would fit on....
 
The wedding band use in Victorian times isnt the same as it is in normal social habits like today. In that era the male typically didn't have or wear one, usually only the female did. If the male received a gift of a ring from his bride, it was usually worn on the left pinky... adopting the growing habit found in Victorian England... However presence of a pinky ring didn't always indicate the subject was married... the habit was also used for a host of different reasons including affiliation with assorted vocational, or fraternal organizations, or just a plain ole fashion statement... occasionally will see them worn by kids or young men on other fingers... assumed whatever it would fit on....
Thank you for this. I figured something was up since society goes through so many cultural shifts. After reading a bit, I was surprised to learn that wedding bands for men didn't really take off until after the Korean War.
 
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