Civil War GEM Album 1860s Union Generals & 80+ Photos & Tintypes Leather W Clasp

  
Civil War-period GEM album (also known as a carte-de-visite miniature album). Size: 4 ½" × 3 ½" (pocket or palm-size format). Material: Leather-covered boards with embossed geometric design and brass latch. Contains dozens (80+) of tiny gem photographs and tintypes (each approximately ½" to ¾" in diameter), mounted under printed gilt oval frames. Includes a page of Civil War Union generals (recognizable as Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, McClellan, Burnside, and others). Remaining pages feature a mix of male and female portraits, likely family members and studio stock images. Gem-sized photos were an innovation of the 1860s - small albumen prints or tintypes cut from multi-image plates.

Many albums were preloaded with portraits of Union generals or politicians, while buyers could add their own family images. Your example is a hybrid type - it includes a generals page and several pages of private citizens, making it both a historical collectible and a personal relic of the period.