# Is the "young Lincoln" daguerreotype authentic?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-young-lincoln-daguerreotype-authentic/235364>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 20, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-young-lincoln-daguerreotype-authentic/235364 "2004-03-20T06:34:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-young-lincoln-daguerreotype-authentic/235364/1 "2004-03-20T06:34:47Z")

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A few years ago, [this daguerreotype portrait](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lincolndag.jpg) was publicized as a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, taken when he was a young man - and years before the [first authenticated photograph](http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/gal/chs30366.jpg) .

This site, [" Lincoln Portrait "](http://www.lincolnportrait.com/) , makes (to me at least) a rather convincing argument for the authenticity of this daguerreotype - even though at first glance it seems quite different from the older Lincoln we are much more familiar with. And it seems (from the first link I proved to the photo) that many historians doubt that the young man is Abraham Lincoln.

Are there any people here who have a stand on whether the portrait is Abraham Lincoln or not?

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**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-young-lincoln-daguerreotype-authentic/235364/2 "2004-03-20T11:24:05Z")

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[It’s not the only candidate for an earlier daguerreotype of him.](http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/ii981108.html) (Scroll down.)

Much as any portrait with an unidentified young male Elizabethan sitter is a candidate for someone suggesting they’re Shakespeare, I suspect the same is true for any gawky bloke from the 1840s and Lincoln.

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**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-young-lincoln-daguerreotype-authentic/235364/3 "2004-03-20T16:21:56Z")

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My own not-professional opinion? It’s not him.

Comparing the disputed photo with the authenticated photo of the younger Lincoln, there are several differences:

[ul]  
[li]the earlobe of the disputed picture hangs much closer to the side of the face than that in the authentic portrait[/li][li]there is a bump on the nose that doesn’t exist on the authentic portrait[/li][li]the angle of the tip of the nose is different and the philtrum is proportionately longer on the disputed portrait[/li][li]the upper lip is fuller on the disputed portrait[/li][li]the lower jaw is larger on the authentic portrait[/li][li]the crease in the cheek and lines around the mouth in the authentic portrait are completely absent from the disputed portrait[/li][/ul]While you could argue that the lines around the mouth are due to age, the photos were purportedly taken at most 7 years apart. Lines that deep don’t appear out of a vaccuum.  
The eyes are strikingly similar and I can see why the question is asked, but I’m 99.9% sure it’s not Lincoln.