Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

Fall Photographic History Auction, 2025

Sat, Sep 6, 2025 01:00PM EDT
  2025-09-06 13:00:00 2025-09-06 13:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : Fall Photographic History Auction, 2025 https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/fall-photographic-history-auction-2025-20189
We are pleased to announce our next auction, featuring approximately 200 individual lots drawn from a diverse and compelling range of 19th- and early 20th-century photography. This sale focuses on vernacular images, photographs created not as formal studio portraits or elite commissions, but as direct, unscripted records of lived experience. These are objects made by and for everyday people, preserving moments of intimacy, labor, travel, performance, identity, and loss.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 211

Oval Daguerreotype Portrait of a Young Woman with Striking Presence

Estimate: $300 - $500
Starting Bid
$150

Bid Increments

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Quarter plate daguerreotype portrait of a poised young woman seated before a dark studio backdrop, housed in an elegant oval thermoplastic case. Her hair is carefully parted and swept into wide side rolls, a fashionable style of the early 1850s. She wears a checked silk dress with puffed sleeves and an oversized white lace collar fastened at the neck with a cameo brooch. Delicate tinting enhances the warmth of her cheeks and lips, adding to her composed and confident presence.

The sitter gazes directly at the camera with an expression that combines self-awareness and serenity. She rests against a carved studio chair, the ornate detail of which adds a layer of depth and dimension to the image. The photograph is presented in a rare elliptical case featuring a deeply sculpted pomegranate design surrounded by floral motifs, a known and desirable Berg example. The image is sharp and expertly composed, a likely product of a top-tier urban studio during the height of daguerreotype portraiture.

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