Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

Winter Photographic History Auction 2026

Sat, Jan 31, 2026 01:00PM EST
  2026-01-31 13:00:00 2026-01-31 13:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : Winter Photographic History Auction 2026 https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/winter-photographic-history-auction-2026-21839
We are pleased to present our Winter Photography Auction, opening January 31 at 1:00 PM Eastern, featuring approximately 270 individual lots spanning the full breadth of 19th- and early 20th-century photography. The sale brings together landmark historical images, rare early photographic processes, and a deep selection of vernacular material created outside the conventions of formal studio portraiture. Collectively, these works offer a direct, unfiltered record of American life, identity, conflict, labor, and memory during photography’s formative century.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 262

19th-Century Group Portrait of Native Delegation and U.S. Military Personnel, Albumen Print

Estimate: $200 - $300
Starting Bid
$100

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $10
$200 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
Large horizontal albumen print of a Native delegation posed with U.S. Army officers outside a frame building, likely dating from the 1870s–1880s. The photograph appears to be a field print, light, with uneven tonality, trimmed edges, and the characteristic matte surface of period albumen paper removed from an original mount.

The group consists of approximately twenty Native men (with one or two white civilians seated among them) and several uniformed soldiers standing on the porch behind. Several Native sitters wear feathered headdresses, hair-pipe breastplates, German silver ornaments, and shirts decorated with beaded strips or quillwork. Others are bare-chested and painted, suggesting the delegation assembled for a formal meeting or treaty-related visit. Clothing and ornament strongly indicate Plains tribal affiliation, with the mixture of feather styles and breastplates most consistent with Lakota / Sioux or Cheyenne, though absolute identification from this print alone is not possible.

The building behind them, horizontal clapboard siding, porch posts, and simple sash windows, is typical of Western agency structures, military posts, and Indian Bureau offices of the period. The presence of several soldiers in forage caps and undress blouses suggests the photograph was taken at or near a frontier Army post. The arrangement of the sitters, with Native representatives in front and military staff behind, follows the format seen in documented Indian delegation photographs made at Fort Keogh, Fort Robinson, Fort Sill, and other Plains posts in the 1870s–80s.

The print shows moderate fading and contrast loss but retains enough detail to study dress, accessories, and the interaction between tribal representatives and Army personnel. Edges are irregularly trimmed, with a diagonal tear at upper right, but the image remains stable.

While the exact event and photographer remain unidentified, the photograph is an authentic period field print capturing a Plains delegation at a frontier post, an image type that rarely survives outside mounted formats. If more context is found (reverse inscriptions, provenance, or comparison with known delegation photographs), a narrower tribal or date attribution may be possible.

Available payment options

PayPal

Spend $500 or more at our auction and all of your SHIPPING IS FREE, buyers to pay insurance.