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Two Ambrotypes of Soldiers in Gray, 

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Militaria Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 600.00 USD
Two Ambrotypes of Soldiers in Gray, 

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Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
a damaged quarter plate showing a pair of unidentified privates in matching light-colored frock coats, full leather equipment, and M1842 muskets, and a ninth plate ruby ambrotype of a young boy in a civilian shirt wearing a military cap said to have been found in Maryland.

In our judgment, both images probably depict early war Federals in state issue clothing equipped with regulation leather accoutrements (the private standing left wears a M1839 US oval plate). The quarter plate could depict Maine, New York, or Pennsylvania troops—among just the eastern states—documented in early war gray frock coats.

It has been suggested that the soldiers are Southern, but as they lack any CS clothing or equipment that can be explained solely and substantively in a Confederate context (i.e., the secession badge worn by the man on the left could easily be a patriotic ribbon), the determination is problematic. The shirt worn by the youth is plainly generic, lacking the tape decoration or braiding typically seen on battle shirts. 

Condition: Quarter plate ambrotype cracked diagonally with the lower right corner missing. Ninth plate with numerous smaller scuffs and abrasions. Both images without cases.