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 323

Cabinet Card, Sitting Bull Crowd, Native American Group, Miller

Estimate: $300 - $500
Starting Bid
$150

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
Seven figures pose in a two-row studio composition for this cabinet card, produced by Miller's Art Gallery at 415–419 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis. The photographer, William R. Miller, operated one of Minneapolis's most prominent portrait studios during the 1880s and 1890s, and this group portrait is consistent with delegation and visiting-party photographs made during that period for Indigenous leaders and their companions traveling through or stopping in the city.

Four subjects are seated in the front row and three stand behind them. The men wear beaded and fringed hide shirts, multiple-strand shell and bead necklaces, and moccasins with wrapped leggings; two hold tomahawks or pipe-tomahawks across their laps. The standing center figure wears a roach headdress and a trade-cloth shirt with a diagonal stripe pattern, and the woman at far right is dressed in a polka-dot trade-cloth garment with a plaid blanket across her lap.

The reverse carries a pencil inscription reading "Sitting Bull Crowd." in a period hand, situated above Miller's ornate printed imprint, which includes a landscape vignette and the full studio address.

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