Who Were They?

Lost and forgotten photos from the past

Today’s CDV shows us a later 19th century image of a handsome man, posed in front of a faux baluster. These types of scenes were designed to set the mood as pastoral, elegant, and otherwise affluent. He is wearing a fine coat, buttoned only at the top. This is a known style for menswear in …

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This fine fellow with his mutton chop whiskers is Carlos. Carlos was photographed sometime in the 1860s, but I don’t know where as there is no photographer’s mark on the card. What can we glean from this image? Carlos was losing his hair and tried to do a fancy comb about on top that reminds …

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This distinguished gentleman was identified, to a degree. The person who wrote his name did not have the best penmanship. Is his name Tom King? Tomkins? What do you all think? He has a fine beard, neat coat and tie, high forehead and deep eyes. In this same batch of photographs is someone with the last …

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This CDV shows a man with fine whiskers, a fine coat and bow tie, clean if rumpled suit of clothes, and brogan style shoes, leaning his hand upon the back of a chair. I originally thought this photo was interesting but it didn’t really catch my eye. However, I took note of the weight of …

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This tintype photograph looks remarkably like the fellow we saw back before the holidays, who had his portrait done by T. M. Saurman. The resemblance is strong, so it’s either the same man or his brother. This photograph features some hand tinting on the bowtie, making it pink. The backmark shows that this image was …

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