Item is a cream cabinet card with gold letterpress, partially obscured by the photograph which is pasted on top, sideways. "Van Aken/ ELMIRA, N.Y." with a decoration with letters "V" and "A" intertwined. Photograph shows two individual circular portraits of a man and a woman. Handwritten in ink at the base of the woman's portrait is "1851" and the man's, "1850". Given the style of dress and hair, this is probably the date of the original picture and not a birth or death date. On verso, an elaborate border and design with griffon and foliage, with the text "E.M. Van Aken/ Photographic/ Art/ Studio./ Practical Photographer,/ 120 West Water Street,/ ELMIRA, N.Y./ COPYRIGHTED 1889."