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 166

Daguerreotype, Sixth Plate, Boy with Toy Figure and Chalet Model

Estimate: $500 - $700
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 sixth plate daguerreotype of a young boy seated in a studio setting captures one of the most animated and toy-rich child portraits to survive from the mid-nineteenth century. The image is lightly hand-tinted, bringing warm flesh tones to the boy's face and selective color to the props he holds. The portrait dates to the 1850s and is unattributed to a specific photographer.

The boy wears a loose wool tunic-style jacket with a vertical row of large round buttons along the placket and a loosely knotted ribbon necktie at his wide white collar. He holds a hand-painted miniature scene on a flat tray: a standing figure of a man carrying goods, flanked by flowering plants rendered in red and green. To his right on a draped table sits a detailed miniature chalet with a steeply pitched roof, a balustraded upper balcony, and an arched ground-floor entry.

The chalet model is constructed with visible horizontal log-style siding, decorative gable ornamentation, and multiple windows, consistent in form with the carved wooden Swiss chalet novelties popular as souvenirs and children's toys throughout Europe in the mid-nineteenth century. The combination of a hand-painted figural tray scene alongside the architectural model in a single child portrait is exceptionally rare and visually distinctive.

The image is housed in its original leather case with an embossed scrollwork exterior, a gilt-bordered mat framing the oval aperture, and a deep crimson velvet pad with embossed floral relief on the interior lid.

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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.