A young man seated with a slender white cane held across his lap anchors this sixth plate daguerreotype, attributed to photographer C. Smith. The portrait dates to the 1840s or early 1850s based on the subject's dress and the style of the leather case, and carries the rare distinction of a named maker's imprint on the interior velvet pad.

The sitter wears a dark frock coat over a matching waistcoat, with a white shirt and loosely knotted cravat at the collar. His dark hair is swept back from a center part, his gaze direct and composed, and both hands rest forward on his knees with the cane balanced between them. The gilt mat is shaped with a scalloped cartouche border, and the red velvet pad opposite bears an embossed eagle-and-foliage design with the text "C. SMITH" and what appears to be "ART" or "ARTIST" woven into the banner.

The embossed velvet pad naming C. Smith is an uncommon form of studio branding found in American daguerreian cases of the early 1850s, suggesting Smith operated a portrait studio with enough ambition to have custom linings produced. The exterior leather case is embossed with a repeating floral and radiating sunburst pattern on both covers.

The case interior pad reads "C. SMITH" with an eagle motif; no additional inscription or reverse text is visible.

Property of a Palmer, Massachusetts gentleman.