Wonderful Mystery Photos, Victorian Edition

Mystery family. That's who I think these are. Sorting through research files and photos this morning, I came across these two again. They first showed up when my aunt and uncle's house was emptied out. They had  a lot of family photos, which my cousin kindly put on discs and sent everyone. No one knows who these two are. We showed them to my 90+ aunties, and they both said: 'oh yes we've seen those before. We never did know who they were". I am afraid we will never know. 


But I keep them because they are both wonderful proof of what actual fashions looked like on the general public rather than illustrations or fashion layouts.

 

 

This gentleman, and I am sure he was one, appears to be 1850s into the early 1860s. His coat has the M notch collar, he has a fold down collar and very large bow on his cravat that is almost obscured by his beard. It looks like he has a ribbon across the shirt front, that tucks into the waistcoat. Possibly for a pince nez? 

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