Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

2026 European Photography Auction

Wed, Oct 28, 2026 01:00PM EDT
  2026-10-28 13:00:00 2026-10-28 13:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : 2026 European Photography Auction https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/2026-european-photography-auction-24401
Our October auction focuses on historic European photography, we are offering a curated collection of fine and erotic daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, CDV, cabinet cards, stereoviews, and a range of curious and uncommon nineteenth-century European vernacular material. At the center of the sale is a collection of images from the Paris Commune of 1871 and the surrounding “année terrible,” the year of war, siege, insurrection, and reprisal that reshaped France. The focus is on the people who drove those events and lived through their aftermath, and on the city that bore the damage.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 418

CDV, Droshky Coachman in Moscow, Russia

Estimate: $100 - $200
Starting Bid
$10

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 hand-colored CDV documents an izvozchik, the traditional Russian cab driver, seated aboard a droshky in Moscow. The photograph was produced during the height of CDV popularity in Russia, most likely in the 1860s to 1870s, and the hand-applied watercolor tinting places it within a well-documented tradition of colorized souvenir and documentary photography practiced by Moscow publishers of that era. No photographer's imprint appears on the mount.

The coachman wears a long blue kaftan-style coat and a flat-topped black hat, the characteristic working dress of the Moscow izvozchik. He sits upright on the low open carriage, reins in hand, with a whip loop visible beside him; a single dark horse stands in harness to the right, its head turned outward. The setting is an unpaved stable yard, with a large wooden barn door open behind the vehicle.

The droshky was the standard horse-drawn public carriage of 19th-century Russia, and its driver, the izvozchik, was a ubiquitous figure on Moscow's streets, functioning as the city's principal means of hired transport before the age of motor vehicles. Photographs of droshky coachmen in traditional dress were among the most sought-after ethnographic subjects for both domestic and foreign collectors during the Imperial period.

The reverse bears a penciled inscription reading "drowsky / in Moscow / Russia." No photographer's imprint is present on either side of the mount.

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We ship for free on combined lot values of $500 or higher in the United States. We will be traveling to Paris November 8-14th and can deliver any of our items at Paris Photo or the show on Saturday.