Figure 1.--This unidentified New York boy wears a stylish cut-away jacket wuth button-on knee pants. He looks to be about 8 years old. Notice the scalloped cut and trim. Notice the white long stockings whicgbhelps to date the portrait at avout 1870. Also notice his rounded crown straw hat. It has very short streamers and a tassels afixed to the button at the crown. Also notice the rather modern-looking hair cut. The studio was L. Murphy and Brother in Bringhamptom, New York.

Most cut away jackets were very plain garments with smooth tappering cuts. While this was the standard, not all cut-away jackets were cut like this. We have some limited information on other cuts. We notice some that had more stlish cuts, including scalloped hem on both the jacket and pants. We have seen only a few of these sylish cuts in the photographic record. The New York boy here about 1870 is a basically cut-away jacket done with scalloped edges. A good example of this relaitvely rare detailing (fugure 1). There may have been other styles besides the scalloping. This is a topic we are still pursuing.

Created: 5:59 PM 1/9/2015
Last updated: 5:59 PM 1/9/2015