Five Mystery Men

Okay, I have mentioned before that men are rather hard to date but with five this should be easy. Right? lol I wish! I think the problem with this one is overload of information. According to the 1850's fashion for men the wider, looser fashions were introduced in 1854. Since these men look like they were playing dress-up rather than wearing their everyday clothes I would assume this was after the looser fashions were introduced. Shawl collared vests are evident for the time frame (see the man on the left in the back, the man in the middle of the front row and the man on the right in the front row, POSSIBLY on the back right but I can't tell). Most of the vests of the time were black wool and matched the coats, which looks like a fit to me. The man on the front right is wearing a lighter colored pant which might mean it is starting to get warmer so they would switch from wool pants to a cotton or linen blend. The ties that all the men are wearing, except the man in the middle in the front row, dates from 1857. The softer silk ties (guessing that is what the man in the middle is wearing) are seen through-out the time period. A wide variety of hats were popular in the 1850's BUT the Bowler hat was introduced in the 1850's and that is what appears to be on the knee of the man in the front row, right and on the lap of the man in the middle. The hair is parted at the side and combed back away from the face in a wave. Earlier in this period the wave was HUGE but after about 1855 it started to get smaller. Since they all appear to have a wave I am assuming this was taken closer to the 1857's date of the ties.

I am not sure when or where this was taken but since you can see a wooden floor and drapes in the background I am guessing it was taken by a traveling photographer that had set up a temporary studio or in the subject home (or friend's home). The bench is rather plain and backless, nothing like the fancy furnishing of a photographer's studio. I would also like to point out that all three men in the front row have a cigar or cigarette of some sort. I am not sure that has any effect on identifying this image but it is a piece of trivia I find interesting. Somebody also had painted the cheeks on all the men so there is a nice pink tint on the original image. Does anybody recognize this group? Anybody in this group?

Today's Birthdays are Ada McRitchie-Snitzer, Alissa Fearing, Andrew Hopfinger, Bonnie Schoenfeld-Fearing, Gertrude Zehner-Rohda and Johann Brodehoft.