That must just be marvelous to see in person and hold in your hand. I've never seen a dag look that clean (probably since most of them are 160+ years old). Words escape me...
In answer to the question about clamping, no, I was not clamped in. I just rested my arms on my legs for stability and held the pose.
About comparisons to other processes, it is really apples and oranges, but a daguerreotype is a stranger orange than most other processes because it must be viewed with the light from the side (or top or bottom). Comparison to an ambrotype (at least on purely visual grounds) would perhpas offer a better comparisoin than comparison to a print on paper. By the way, Mike also did a quick demo of a ambrotype for me while I was there. Remarkably simple by comparisoin to the daguerreotype.