Band of the 107th U.S. Colored Infantry. Smith, 1865

This rare photograph of a Black Civil War military band shows the band of the 107th U.S. Colored Infantry. The unit was organized in 1864 in Louisville, Kentucky. They participated in the siege of Petersburg, the first and second expeditions to Fort Fisher, the capture of Wilmington, the occupation of Raleigh, the surrender of Johnston, and several other smaller battles and skirmishes.

$16,000

May du Maurier. Julia Margaret Cameron, 1874

This is an unrecorded signed portrait by Julia Margaret Cameron, the foremost British portrait photographer of her time.

$15,000

Commodore Matthew C. Perry, three-quarter length portrait, in uniform, his left hand resting on his sword. New York: Mathew Brady Studio, c. 1854-58

This is the splendid Perry Family hand-colored Imperial print of Mathew Brady’s portrait of Commodore Perry. Brady coined the term “imperial’ for his large photographic portraits intended to rival mezzotints and lithographs in size.

$12,000

Engineers Club Inaugural Banquet Commemorative of the Opening of the New Club House on which occasion Mr. Andrew Carnegie will be the guest of honor Monday, the ninth of December 1907. [New York: Engineer's Club], [1907]

Signed by Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, and Andrew Carnegie (who has signed twice), and others. This event commemorated the opening of the Engineers Club’s fabulous new home at 32 West 40th Street on Bryant Park in New York.

$12,000

A collection of all six portraits of the last surviving veterans of the American Revolution. Hartford: Moore, 1864

These is a complete collection of original carte de visite photographs of all six Revolutionary War veterans still surviving in 1864: William Hutchings (aged 100), Samuel Downing (aged 102), Daniel Waldo (aged 102), Adam Link (aged 102), Alexander Millener (aka Muroney) (aged 104), and Lemuel Cook (aged 105). A seventh man, James Barham, was believed to be alive but could not be located for the series.

$12,000

Daguerreotype portrait of John Romeyn Brodhead. London: Mayall, 1848

A splendid half-plate daguerreotype of Herman Melville’s advisor and agent John Brodhead, scholar and diplomat.

John Romeyn Brodhead (1814-1873) was a historian and a member of the American diplomatic corps. Best remembered for his services as Herman Melville’s agent in London, Brodhead had known Melville and his family since their youth.

$11,000

Cornelius Vanderbilt, vignetted standing portrait. [New York: Mathew Brady Studio, 1860s.]

Founder of the Vanderbilt business dynasty, Cornelius Vanderbilt made his fortune first in steamships and shipping and then in railroads. His career spanned the birth of the steamship and the development of the great American railroad networks. He was “the oldest and perhaps the greatest of the nineteenth-century railroad barons” (ANB). Grand Central Station and Vanderbilt University stand as testaments to his influence and wealth.

$9,500

Stumbling Bear, Kiowa Chief. Fort Sill, Indian Territory, c. 1869-74

Photographer Will Soule arrived at Fort Sill in Indian Territory in late 1869 or early 1870. Fort Sill was then a military headquarters and agency for several Indian tribes, including the Kiowa.  Before returning to Boston in 1874, Soule made an important series of Native American portraits, including this charismatic image of Chief Stumbling Bear.

$9,500

David T. Valentine. New York and Washington: Brady Studio, c. late 1850s

This is a delightful Brady Imperial salt print portrait of one of the fascinating political and literary characters of mid-nineteenth-century New York, David T. Valentine.

$9,500

Henry A. Wise. New York and Washington: Brady Studio, c. late 1850s

This is a dramatic full-length standing salt print portrait of Gov. Henry A. Wise by Mathew Brady.

$7,500