Geo Wood, identified in pencil on the reverse, is portrayed in this CDV as an Iowa Civil War soldier, the bust-length tintype inset mounted within an elaborately printed ornamental frame on the card. The format and the identified inscription place this portrait in the early 1860s.
Wood wears a dark military-style sack coat with a column of small buttons running down the front and a high, closed collar, his expression direct and composed. The oval tintype is set into a printed Gothic-arch surround featuring scrollwork, floral devices, and pendant tassels at the apex, sides, and base, a decorative presentation format popular during the Civil War years for soldier portraits.
Iowa furnished more than 75,000 men to the Union Army across dozens of infantry, cavalry, and artillery units, and named Iowa soldier CDVs from this period carry consistent collector interest among Civil War photographic enthusiasts.
The reverse bears a pencil inscription reading "Geo Wood" and what appears to read "A 60," with no photographer's imprint visible on the mount.
From the collection of James Lee Soffer
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