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This is a sixth plate daguerreotype portrait of a little boy in a high chair. The tablecloth has been beautifully hand tinted, a common practice in dags. This is aarticularly valuable dag because it is dates and the boy identified. Most dags are not identified. The pad opposite the image identifies the boy as "C. Olin Boyden, Aged 2 years & 8 months, August 2d, 1852, Columbus, Ga". The dag is housed in a full case (split spine) with a floral design. The oval metal frame is very plain. We are not sure yet if the frames are useful in dating dags. The limited time frame in which dags were produced probably do not make the frames very significant, but this is a topic we are looking at. Olin was born in the ante-bellum South. He wears a plain colored dress, although we have no idea about the color. The dress is colarless and Olin wears it with plain white pantalettes. We see many younger children wearing collarless dresses in the first half of the 19th century. Fashion may have been a facor. But in the era before readmade clothes, an important factor was probably the simple fact that dresses without collars were much easier to make at home. Note that even though he is not yet 3 years old that his hair bas been cut short. Families varied on this, but in Olin's family boys appear to have their hair cut before they were breeched. We do not have any information on his family or adult life. Given his age he may have not served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War (1861-65). Columbus is located in western Georgia and did not figure in Sherman's March to the Sea.
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