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 339

CDV, Native American Man, Clement & Keith, Lyons, Nebraska

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 Native American man is portrayed in this albumen CDV, produced by Clement & Keith Photographic Art Studio of Lyons, Nebraska, likely in the 1870s or 1880s given the studio's period imprint style. The Lyons, Nebraska location places this portrait in the vicinity of the Omaha Reservation, suggesting the subject may be affiliated with the Omaha or a neighboring Plains nation, though no inscription identifies him by name.

He wears a light-colored trade cloth or muslin shirt and an elaborate hairpipe breastplate of stacked bone or shell tubes extending from the collar to the chest, a prestige ornament widely worn among Plains peoples of this era. A single feather is fixed upright in his long, dark hair, and his hands are folded in his lap, with what appears to be a small handled object, possibly a fan or short implement, resting across them.

Clement & Keith operated in Lyons, Nebraska, a town adjacent to the Omaha Reservation, and portraits of Native subjects from this studio are uncommon and regionally significant documents of Plains Indian life in the post-Civil War decades.

The reverse bears the full printed imprint: "Clement & Keith Photographic Art Studio, Lyons, Neb." with the notation "Negatives Preserved."

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