The sailor in this image wears a white cotton warm weather frock with blue “nankin” collar and bib bordered with three strips of white trim. The blue bib suggests this image is pre-Civil War. The six-pointed star on the front of his cap band is worthy of note. It may be a heretofore unrecorded specialty mark, of which there were a number, worn by rating sailors of the antebellum Navy. He also has the customary short strip of black silk sewn on the side of his cap band. The brass buttons attached to his round jacket appear to be medium-sized 1852-pattern, two-piece “eagle-on-anchor” pattern. The two stars visible on the black silk handkerchief tied loosely around his neck appear to be embroidered.
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