A Victorian gent and his most admirable sideburns...

Sideburns maketh the man.

Take a moment with me, if you will, to dreamily admire and perhaps even consider replicating, this fine set of 1840's sideburns.

You're looking at a truly splendid British daguerreotype example, of which there are far fewer examples compared to their transatlantic cousins, the reason for this being a complicated licencing issue and subsequent high costs. The owner, 'Photos of the Past' on Flickr, notes that the date the image was taken was recorded on the reverse: September 1, 1849.

Just another example of how marvellously the British did sideburns in the Victorian era.