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 591

Real Photo Postcard, Record Ox at A.M. Richards, 1908

Estimate: $100 - $200
Starting Bid
$50

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 massive black-and-white ox dominates the foreground of this real photo postcard, photographed outside the A.M. Richards butcher shop on December 15, 1908. The image was printed on AZO stock, consistent with the period, and no photographer's imprint appears on the reverse. A hand-lettered inscription written directly across the image sky identifies the animal as the largest ox in the world at 4,821 pounds, killed by Geo. G. Brown for A.M. Richards.

More than a dozen men and women crowd the storefront behind the ox, most wearing dark wool coats and brimmed hats appropriate to a winter gathering. The man at center foreground wears a bowler hat and a long dark overcoat, while the man at left holds a rope lead; snow is visible on the ground beneath the animal's hooves. A painted storefront sign reading "H & Game. A.M. Richards. Heavy Native" spans the background above the crowd.

The A.M. Richards signage advertising heavy native meats, poultry, and game goods places this firmly within a commercial butchery context, and the crowd's size reflects the genuine public spectacle that record-weight livestock commanded in small-town America during the early twentieth century.

The reverse carries an AZO postcard back, unused, with penciled catalog notations reading "4-98C-5G" at upper left, "125-" at upper right, and "#0050" at lower left.

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