Large Format Camera from Mathew Brady’s Studio. New York, c. 1850s

A major relic of photographic history, this camera was owned by Mathew Brady during his years as the leading figure in American photography. Brady was the preeminent American portrait photographer of his day. He gained his greatest fame with his studio’s documentation of the events and figures of the Civil War. This camera’s association with Brady and his studio, which produced hundreds of iconic portraits and thousands of Civil War photographs, makes it an important historical artifact.

$250,000

Collection of four photograph of the execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. Washington, July 7, 1865

A monumental event in American photographic history: the hanging of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. Series of Gardner’s execution photographs are rarely seen. The only other collection we have seen for public sale in years, a group of four prints, sold for $100,000 (Swann Galleries, October 17, 2013, lot 18.

$65,000

Ulysses S. Grant. Washington, c. 1865

$52,000

Collection of Photographs of Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet: a “Team of Rivals”. New York and Washington: Brady Studio, c. 1860

This is a splendid collection of Brady Imperial portraits of Lincoln’s most important cabinet members, the famed “Team of Rivals.”

Four photographs as a collection: $45,000

Original Brady Photograph Maquette “President and Cabinet.”. Washington: Brady, 1864

$42,000

Abraham Lincoln. Washington, November 8, 1863

This famous “Gettysburg portrait,” with Lincoln looking directly into the camera, was made just days before he delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.

$28,000

A fine collection of 8 classic Civil War photographs from Gardner’s Sketch Book. Washington: Gardner, [1865-66]

A splendid collection of Gardner prints.

$27,000

Important Pair of Daguerreotypes: Black Nurse with White Baby and the Child’s Parents. Talbot County, Maryland or Texas, c. 1853

This striking pair of daguerreotypes evokes the complex relationships between slaves and slave owners in the American South, especially between white families and the trusted slaves who cared for their children.

the pair: $25,000

Mammoth portrait of Millie and Christine McKoy. Philadelphia: W. L. Germon, c. 1868-71

This spectacular large-format photograph depicts the celebrated conjoined twins Millie and Christine McKoy.

$22,500

Abraham Lincoln. Chicago, [Chicago, October 4, 1859.]

This is believed to be the earliest paper photograph of Lincoln not taken from an ambrotype or daguerreotype. Lincoln sat for this portrait at the Cooke & Fassett Gallery in Chicago on October 4, 1859. Lincoln’s unsuccessful 1858 Senate race against Stephan Douglas had won him some national recognition. It was not until the Cooper Union address in New York in 1860 that Lincoln would be regarded as a serious candidate for the presidency.

$22,500