Seed Pearl Necklace and Bracelets

[Steve]

The style of daguerreotype (ie mat, preserver, etc) along with the clothing styles of the couple in the image date the photograph to 1856-58.

Photographers were still making daguerreotypes in 1861, but the introduction of the carte de visite in 1859 and tintype in 1856 spelled the end of the format by 1864. So the very fact that the image is a daguerreotype would seem to weigh against it being taken in Washington DC in 1861, at one of the centers of culture in the entire country two years after prints were first introduced. And that a photographer would take a daguerreotype of the newly elected President and his wife during his inaugural ceremonies instead of showing off their talents with the newest and best methods.

It seems to me the only reason you want to date the photograph to the inauguration, despite all the visual evidence to the contrary dating it some years earlier, is that Lincoln didn't have a beard before then and thus to claim the couple is Lincoln and Mary you'd have to date it to the inauguration at the earliest to avoid the problem of the obsolescence of daguerreotype. Even though the man in the photograph looks nothing like Abraham Lincoln in the clear and crisp image.