The daguerreotype has excellent clarity and contrast. It is a sixth plate example that is housed in a half leather case. It features a young Virginia Military Institute cadet seated wearing a light colored coatee cadet’s jacket with seven evenly spaced horizontal lines of dark piping decorating the front. Each line of piping ends with a closed loop. Under a magnifier it can easily be determined that the buttons are the VMI type, with the word “cadet” over the image of Virtus. The...y are arranged on the jacket in three parallel vertical rows, one row down the center and one on each side. The collar is high with one button and one line of dark piping on each side. The jacket is open towards the bottom and reveals white trousers and a white vest with dark buttons. The cadet is unnamed but could perhaps be identified with some research, and no doubt he saw service in the coming war. The contrast and clarity are excellent. Looking very closely and catching the light just right you can see some scratches but you really have to work to see them. Around the edge of the brass mat there is some minor discolorations but nothing that detracts from the wonderful condition of the image. The overall condition is very good+On Jun-28-19 at 11:11:34 PDT, seller added the following information:The image is a standard 1/6" plate, approximately 3" X 3 1/2".