Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

June 2026 Vernacular Photo History Auction

Wed, Jun 24, 2026 11:00AM EDT
  2026-06-24 11:00:00 2026-06-24 11:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : June 2026 Vernacular Photo History Auction https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/june-2026-vernacular-photo-history-auction-23574
Our June 2026 auction presents a focused and exceptional selection of historical photographs spanning the 1840s through the early twentieth century, with unusual depth in named subjects, rare formats, and documented provenance anchored by strong vernacular material that rewards close looking.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 410

CDV & RPPC Group, Daniel Decatur Emmett, Author of Dixie, 4 Items

Estimate: $200 - $300
Current Bid
$100

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$100 $10
$200 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $5,000
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
Four photographic items documenting Daniel Decatur Emmett, the Ohio-born minstrel performer and composer credited as the author of "Dixie," comprise this lot: one CDV portrait, one RPPC portrait, and two RPPC views of his birthplace in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The CDV presents Emmett full-length and standing in a dark frock coat with light trousers, a top hat placed on a low balustrade beside him, a walking stick in hand, and a large decorative urn on a pedestal at his right — the front mount inscribed in period hand "The author of 'Dixie.'" The RPPC portrait reproduces an earlier photographic likeness of a younger Emmett, showing him in a dark satin-lapeled coat and bow tie, his hair dark and his expression direct, mounted below a printed label reading "Daniel D. Emmett / Author of 'Dixie!'" with a partially legible photographer credit beneath.

The two birthplace RPPCs document the Mount Vernon, Ohio house where Emmett was born in 1815 and where he died in 1904, both captioned on the front. The interior card shows the original fireplace with a spinning wheel leaning against the hearth, a framed portrait of Emmett centered on the mantelpiece flanked by candlesticks and smaller framed images, and two black fireplace surrounds at either side. The exterior card presents the white clapboard house from the front, a gabled center section with dark shuttered windows, mature trees framing the structure, and a low addition visible at right.

Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815–1904) was a founding figure of American minstrelsy, co-creator of the Virginia Minstrels in 1843 — the first full-length minstrel show — and composer of "Dixie" (1859), which he wrote as a walk-around for Bryant's Minstrels in New York. The song was adopted as an anthem of the Confederacy during the Civil War, a development Emmett, a Northerner, reportedly found deeply unwelcome. He lived to see the centennial of his birthplace and died in Mount Vernon in the same house in which he had been born eighty-nine years earlier.

The CDV reverse is penciled "Daniel Emmett" with dealer code "6/20/15 / LOBEO1." The portrait RPPC reverse bears a blue-ink inscription reading "Sold on Ms. Norman during Sesquicentennial 1953" with dealer code "4/03/11 / COLBZ." Both birthplace RPPCs carry Devolite Peerless paper stock designation and dealer code "4/03/11 / COLBZ."

Available payment options

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • Amex
  • Diners
  • Discover
  • JCB
  • Union Pay
PayPal

All SHIPPING IS FREE for purchases above $500, buyers to pay insurance at $2 per $100.