(PRESIDENTS 1880 CAMPAIGN) Portrait of a boy dressed in the

Sale 2580 - Lot 214

Price Realized: $ 1,125

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(PRESIDENTS--1880 CAMPAIGN?) Portrait of a boy dressed in the style of Lincoln's "Wide-Awakes." Tintype, 3 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches, with a bit of blue tint to the cape; moderate surface wear; in period metal case lacking glass. No place, circa 1880

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Additional Details

This young fellow wears a cape and a kepi-style hat. The torch appears to be in the design patented by J. McGregor Adams in 1880, and produced by the A & W Manufacturing Co.; examples are held by Historic New England, Cornell University and elsewhere. It was intended to evoke the popular ballot box style of the period, and was used in presidential campaigns through at least 1892. See Herbert R. Collins, "Political Campaign Torches," in Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institution, 1966, page 28 (figure 29).