Two albumen prints by Isaiah West Taber occupy opposite sides of a single album leaf, each photograph mounted directly to the page stock. The US Mint view, catalogued B 38, presents the Second San Francisco Mint in a three-quarter exterior perspective, its Greek Revival colonnade, rusticated granite walls, decorative ironwork fence, planted forecourt, and a flagpole at street level all rendered with sharp tonal contrast. The cable street-car view, catalogued B 46, captures two Geary Street, Park and Ocean Railroad cars side by side, one signed "Geary 12th Street" and the other "Market St. & Golden Gate Park," with three women seated in period dress, two male crew members standing between the cars, and a hillside building visible behind.

The Mint image shows uniformed figures standing at the building's base, giving scale to the massive ashlar masonry and the projecting temple-front portico. Car number 18 is legible on the enclosed coach, its wooden paneling and open-bench trailer car together documenting the Geary line's equipment in the early cable-car era.

Isaiah West Taber operated his San Francisco studio from the 1870s through the 1900s and issued numbered architectural and topographical series widely distributed in souvenir albums. The Second San Francisco Mint, completed in 1874, remained in service until 1937 and survived the 1906 earthquake. Both prints carry the imprint "Taber Photo., San Francisco" in the lower border. The album page measures 8 1/2 by 12 1/4 inches, with each image approximately 4 3/4 by 7 1/4 inches.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer