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 120

CDV, Rev. F. Mant, Photomontage Caricature, Athletes in Striped Kit

Estimate: $300 - $500
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
Three bearded men wearing horizontal-striped athletic jerseys, striped stockings, and dark shoes have been photographically cut out and pasted onto a hand-drawn scene depicting a Gothic collegiate building, a smaller chapel structure, and a bare tree at the right margin. The format is a CDV, albumen print on card mount, almost certainly British in origin and dating to the 1860s or early 1870s given the square-cornered mount, plain cream card stock, and absence of a photographer's imprint. The composite technique, combining actual portrait photography with an illustrated athletic ground backdrop, places this squarely within the Victorian tradition of humorous photomontage CDVs produced as keepsakes among university or sporting clubs.

The central figure's jersey bears a prominent skull-and-crossbones emblem with a small inset portrait medallion at the chest, suggesting a club badge or inside joke rather than a standard athletic uniform. All three figures strike exaggerated running or bounding poses, and each man wears a full beard. The figures flanking the central subject are slightly smaller in scale, consistent with the hand-composed photomontage aesthetic. A small handwritten annotation reading "3" appears in blue ink at the right edge of the image face.

The reverse carries a printed gold-ruled cartouche, the pen-written inscription within reading "Revd F. Mant," identifying the subject as a Reverend F. Mant, a member of the Anglican clerical Mant family prominent in Ireland and England throughout the nineteenth century. No photographer's imprint is present on the reverse.

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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.