6th plate tintype. Circa 1860. Full leatherette case.

Note: The tintype badge of Stephen Douglass shown in the cover photo is for reference only, the cased image of the boy is the item for sale in this lot.

Rare tintype of a young child wearing a ferrotype-style campaign badge for Stephen Douglas, who famously ran against Abraham Lincoln in both the 1858 Illinois senate election and later the 1860 presidential election. The child, who is clad in a light-colored military-style outfit somewhat reminiscent of Confederate service, has the Douglas ferrotype pinned to the breast of his jacket within a colorful silk cockade. The image is clear enough to clearly make out Douglas’s portrait. These coin-sized ferrotypes were produced during the Lincoln-Douglas presidential election battle and are highly prized by collectors. This particular example would have also had a photograph of Douglas’s running mate, Herschel Johnson, on its reverse.

Douglas ran on a split Democratic ticket in 1860, ultimately losing to his long-time rival in one of the most consequential presidential elections in American history. For many years he argued for the doctrine of popular sovereignty - the right of the people of a state to decide the legality of slavery for themselves - as a way to preserve the Union, a position that became increasingly unpopular in both the North and the South in the run-up to the Civil War.

The image itself is sharp and bright, with outstanding clarity that allows for easy inspection of fine details.

[Politics, Abraham Lincoln, 1860 Election, Civil War, Slavery, Abolition, Illinois, Early Photography, Tintypes, Cased Images] [Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, Tintype, CDV, Albumen, carte-de-visite, Salt print, Cabinet Card] [Abraham Lincoln, Abolition, Union, Confederate, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee, Abolitionist, Slave, Slavery, 13th Amendment, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, John Wilkes Booth]