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 637

Postcard Binder, Hobos and Hermits, Stereoviews, Press Photos

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 collector's binder assembled around the theme of itinerant life and social outcasts, bringing together postcards, CDVs, stereoviews, and original press photographs spanning roughly the 1870s through 1949. The binder documents the hobo, hermit, gypsy, and vagrant as photographic and printed subjects across multiple formats and national traditions, forming a thematically unified research and collecting resource of unusual depth.

The contents visible throughout include real photo postcards depicting figures such as "The Song of the Tramp," a costumed man in the field, and street-level scenes of pedestrians on a dirt road; a French postcard captioned "Voyageurs Indésirables" (Undesirable Travelers) showing a group with a covered wagon; comic-caption cards reading "Missis, will yer please sew me a Shirt on this Button?" and "The Change Will Do Him Good"; stereoviews of a young seated figure and a long-bearded elderly man; an RPPC labeled "The Gipsy Caravan" with a horse-drawn vardo on a road; and images identified on their reverses as "Barbados" and "Roma." A Keystone stereoview of an aged man and a Stereoscopic Treasures packet labeled "The Beggar Boy's Thanksgiving, No. 399, published by F.G. Weller, Littleton, N.H." appear alongside a complete or near-complete set of Hobo Joe's restaurant promotional postcards branded "World Traveler, Philosopher and Connoisseur of Good Food," issued by Hobo Joe's Inc. of California.

Two gelatin silver press photographs are among the most distinctive pieces: a candid outdoor scene of a man reclining against a wagon wheel, and a second showing two older men conversing beside a Japanese-style birdhouse, both accompanied by Metro Group Editorial Service captions and a "ROTO MAR 6 1949" release stamp, dating them to March 1949 and placing them in newspaper syndication context at mid-century.

Metro Group Editorial Service caption sheets are present on the reverses of both press photographs, each bearing the "ROTO MAR 6 1949" stamp and an address of 220 East 42nd Street, New York 17, N.Y. Multiple postcard reverses are blank or carry standard "Post Card / Carte Postale" backs from various publishers including Bamforth and Co. One stereoview envelope is inscribed "Stereoscopic Treasures / The Beggar Boy's Thanksgiving / No. 399 / Published by F.G. Weller, Littleton, N.H."

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