Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

March 2026 Unreserved Photo Auction — Curiosities, Performers & Vernacular Photography

Sat, Mar 28, 2026 01:00PM EDT
  2026-03-28 13:00:00 2026-03-28 13:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : March 2026 Unreserved Photo Auction — Curiosities, Performers & Vernacular Photography https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/march-2026-unreserved-photo-auction-curiosities-performers-vernacular-photography-22648
Our March 2026 auction presents a wide selection of historical photographs, postcards, entertainment memorabilia, and visual curiosities spanning the mid-nineteenth through twentieth centuries. Every lot is offered completely without reserve, ensuring that each item sells to the highest bidder regardless of price. Combined purchases totaling $500 or more qualify for free shipping, providing collectors an added incentive to bid across multiple lots. The unreserved format creates opportunities for both new and experienced collectors to acquire unusual and historically interesting material.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 394

27 Civil War Era Tintypes – Children, Families, Groups

Estimate: $50 - $400
Starting Bid
$10

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
Group of twenty-seven nineteenth century tintype photographs, most approximately CDV size, depicting a variety of studio and outdoor portraits. The collection includes children, couples, family groups, and several multi-figure compositions showing men and women posed together in formal dress. A number of the images retain the clipped corners typical of tintypes originally presented in paper CDV-style mats.

Subjects include individual portraits of boys and girls, infants posed in chairs and cradles, seated couples, and larger family groupings. Several photographs show children standing beside studio furniture or decorative props, while others depict outdoor settings including grass lawns and simple landscape backdrops. One tintype features a reclining infant and another shows a young child seated within an ornate decorative mat frame.

The group also contains a variety of tonal variations typical of tintypes, including darker exposures and examples with warmer brown or reddish surface tones. Overall the lot presents an appealing cross-section of mid to late nineteenth-century vernacular portrait photography, capturing everyday families and children in both studio and informal settings.

An attractive and varied lot of early American tintypes with strong representation of family and childhood imagery from the Civil War era and later nineteenth century.

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