This is an original image case that was designed to hold an image. These are the style case that are made of a thermoplastic material that is better known as a "Gutta Percha" case. They are high quality cases that held the best images of the Civil War era. It will hold the tintype style image as well as an ambrotype or Daguerreotype. It still has the patent marking from the S. Peck & Company and Halverson. It also has the notation that it is a "GENUINE UNION CASE". This one is the size known to collectors as the quarter plate image. This means that the image it is designed to hold measures 4-1/4th inches by 3-1/4th inches in size. On the sides of the case it has the design that is known as case #34, 'Money Musk,' design case in the wonderful 1988 copy-written book entitled Union Cases; A Collector's Guide to the Art of America's First Plastics by Krainik, Krainik, and Walvoord. They tell of how the Money Musk was one of the most famous reel dances in British American tradition. The image shows the fiddler on one side with the dancers in the middle. Below the image it has the die engravers name of Frederick B. Smith & Hermann Hartmann and New York location. This is a great case for your collection and is open for your image.
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