Item is an ambrotype photograph in a velvet-lined thermoplastic union case, showing a male sitter in front of a studio backdrop. The case was intended for use with 1/4 plate daguerreotypes, as indicated by the manufacturer's stamp on the inside back cover beneath the ambrotype plate: "Littlefield, Parsons & Co.,/ MANUFACTURERS OF/ Daguerrotype Cases./ L., P. & Co., are the sole/ Proprietors and only legal Manu-/ facturers of UNION CASES, with the/ Embracing Riveted Hinge./ Patented October 14, 1856,/ and April 21, 1857."