Occupational Ambrotype: Hatchet-Wielding Laborer

The subject of this early photograph, an older middle-aged man, must have found it quite important to show off his massive axe for the camera as he holds it almost right up to the lens! His story is open to speculation, but we think this to be an occupational shot of a laborer, perhaps someone who worked with lumber. In any case, you will be hard-pressed to find a larger blade in a 19th-century occupational photograph. Condition is very fine. Housed in half a leatherette case.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Antique Photography, Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, Tintype, CDV]