Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

September 2026 Vernacular Photo History Auction

Sat, Sep 19, 2026 11:00AM EDT
  2026-09-19 11:00:00 2026-09-19 11:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : September 2026 Vernacular Photo History Auction https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/september-2026-vernacular-photo-history-auction-24380
Our September 2026 auction is anchored by two remarkable private collections, together making up about half the sale, alongside a broader selection of consignments spanning early photography, Civil War material, and vernacular imagery. The Soffer Collection, built with an eye for rarity and historical significance, is particularly strong in vernacular portraiture, Native American photographs, and Iowa Civil War imagery. The Palmer, Massachusetts collection, much of it found at Brimfield, centers on maker-marked daguerreotypes from the golden age of the American daguerreian studio.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 346

Cabinet Card, African American Woman, B.T. Rice, Frankfort, Kansas

Estimate: $200 - $300
Starting Bid
$100

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$100 $10
$200 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
A full-length studio portrait of an African American woman, rendered as a cabinet card by B.T. Rice of Frankfort, Kansas. The bustle-era dress and ornate painted backdrop firmly place this image in the mid-to-late 1880s, a period of notable Black community growth across Kansas following the Exoduster migrations of the preceding decade. Rice operated one of the established portrait studios in Frankfort, and this card bears the studio's elaborately printed reverse with Gothic lettering and decorative vignettes.

The subject stands in three-quarter view wearing a fitted dark dress with a row of small buttons running from waist to collar, long sleeves with cuffed wrists, and a white lace collar and jabot. Her right hand rests lightly on the back of an upholstered parlor chair, and a painted backdrop depicting a decorative architectural column and foliage fills the left side of the frame.

African Americans in Kansas during the 1880s were asserting civic presence with notable force, and formal studio portraiture was a deliberate act of self-presentation and dignity. That this woman chose a well-appointed commercial studio for her portrait speaks directly to that tradition of visibility and self-definition through the photographic medium.

The reverse bears the printed imprint "B. T. Rice, Photographer, Frankfort, Kas." with Gothic decorative lettering and an ornamental border. A handwritten notation reading "2113" appears in pencil at the lower left of the image recto.

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