Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

June 2026 Vernacular Photo History Auction

Wed, Jun 24, 2026 11:00AM EDT
  2026-06-24 11:00:00 2026-06-24 11:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : June 2026 Vernacular Photo History Auction https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/june-2026-vernacular-photo-history-auction-23574
Our June 2026 auction presents a focused and exceptional selection of historical photographs spanning the 1840s through the early twentieth century, with unusual depth in named subjects, rare formats, and documented provenance anchored by strong vernacular material that rewards close looking.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 175

Boudoir Card, Sequoia Group, Mariposa Grove, I.W. Taber

Estimate: $100 - $200
Current Bid
$50

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$100 $10
$200 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $5,000
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
A group of giant sequoias identified as standing 270 feet high in the Mariposa Grove is recorded in this albumen print boudoir card by Isaiah West Taber of San Francisco, numbered B 777 in his Pacific Coast view series, circa 1880 to 1895. A man rests seated at the base of the central trees with a packed mule standing beside him, providing vivid human scale against the immense trunks that fill the frame from ground to upper edge. The title, series number, and photographer's credit are printed in the negative along the lower edge of the image, and the reverse bears Taber's full studio imprint for his Photographic Parlors at 8 Montgomery Street, San Francisco.

Four sequoia trunks of extraordinary girth occupy the foreground, their deeply furrowed reddish bark rendered in sharp detail; the grove floor is carpeted with duff and fallen branches, and smaller conifers recede into a luminous background between the trunks. The seated figure and mule are dwarfed entirely by the root bases of the nearest trees, making the scale of the sequoias immediately legible to any viewer.

Taber's Mariposa Grove series, produced largely from negatives acquired from Carleton Watkins following the latter's bankruptcy in 1881, was among the most widely distributed commercial photographic documentation of the California Big Trees, sold to tourists traveling the region by rail and distributed through Taber's San Francisco View Department, which advertised the best and largest collection of Pacific Coast views available.

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