Posted By:
ramramI'd actually suspect that the item is from within plus or minus a year or two of the 1863 date, but that's certainly arguable.
The seller did also mention this: "Taft I believe to be associated with the Tafts that founded the Taft School (private prep school) in Watertown. Bushnell is a name associated with Bushnell park in Hartford."
However, since it was later determined that these boys were in a prep school in Massachusetts, it's possible that there's not actually a Connecticut connection, like the seller originally thought, at all.
I also tried to do quite a bit of searching during the auction but came up empty on the names.
Rob M.