Unusual and visually arresting 19th-century carte de visite depicting a whimsical tin trade sign fashioned in the form of a top hat. Affixed to a display stand, the oversized hat form is pierced with five vertical rows of round tin targets or reflectors, likely used as a visual attraction for a milliner, hatmaker, or possibly an optician's display.

The reverse is imprinted with the photographer's backmark: G.A. White, Photographer, South Bend, Ind. Pencil sketches of two top hat motifs are drawn on the verso, presumably rough ideas or advertising concepts.

This is a rare example of early American advertising iconography, where commercial objects were turned into sculptural curiosities to lure the public’s attention. The sign itself may have once stood on a sidewalk or in a shop window. Photographs of trade signs in this format are scarce, especially when the object itself is so delightfully eccentric.

A remarkable survivor—part folk art, part visual advertising, and entirely evocative of mid-19th-century entrepreneurial creativity.