Figure 1.-- This American boy had his CDV portait taken at the Jordan & Co. studio (established in 1846) on Greenwich St, but we don't note the city. We know it was in the North and taken 1864-66 because it has a Federal Revenue stamp. The boy looks to be about 14 years old. He wears a rather baggy sack suit. Notice the very small lapels set hihh up on the suit.

The sack suit jacket with lapels is a style we do not see boys wearing very commonly. It was more of an adult style. This is a style worn by older boys. We see boys wearing suit jackets with lapels as early as the 1840s. A good example is an unidentified American boy. Note the large lapels. Based on the photographic record, these sack suits do not appear to have been a very common style for boys. This is also true in the 1850s. We begin to see more boys wearing these jackets in the 1860s. We don't have enough images yeyt to stay much about the styling. We note that the boy here in the mid-60s had very small lapels. mosly older boys who had out-grown collar-buttoning and cut-away jackets worn by younger boys. Boys in the 1860s seem to begin wearing these suit jackets at about 13 years of age, They were always worn with long trousers. And unlike earlier suits, the jackets and trousers usually matched..