A man wearing an ear trumpet is an unusual subject for any photo. Much effort was made to deliberately conceal ear trumpets ... this ambrotype by contrast suggest a proud owner. Perhaps it was akin to have the latest PDA. Ambrotypes developed the photograph directly onto a glass plate coated with silver salts and backed with a black varnish. Because they were so fragile this needed mounting behind another piece of glass which was often then mounted in a metal frame. In this example the embossed leather box case holds an ornate gold metal frame with finely decorated velvet in the opposite face. Ambrotypes went out of vogue around the 1850s in favour of daguerrotypes.