These daguerreotypes by Charles Fontayne and William Porter, on September 24th, 1848 at 1:55PM, are phenomenal!

Their daguerreotypes can be looked at at 30x and still look crisp, according to the authors of the article! Incredible for a photograph taken 162 years ago. Check it out yourself: goto the website I link to, which has the article about these masterpieces and their restoration, and drag the little blue box around one of the plates. A view on the right at 10x shows you the detail level.

I'm not so sure about the 30x claim, I think 10x is really about the limit on them from what I see, but still phenomenal for 162 years ago.