Daguerreotype of a three-quarter length portrait of a man, seated, wearing a checked waistcoat and stripey cravat. His right hand is resting on a small table covered in an embroidered tablecloth, while his left hand hold an object in his lap. The sitter is identified as Frederick Holmes (1812-1881?), an analytic chemist and engineer who invented the magneto-electric machine for electricity generation in lighthouses. This daguerreotype is in a gold-coloured mount with a rectangular arched window. This is glazed and in a leather-coated wooden case lined with red velvet. There is a metal clasp on the right edge. The front cover is embossed with a border of a floral design.