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 549

Silver Print Fort D.A. Russell Army Baseball Team, Denver

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 $5,000
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
Fort D.A. Russell's baseball team poses with bats, balls, and a catcher's mask arranged in the foreground in this sharp silver print team photograph, made by a Denver photographer identified on the partially legible reverse as Wm. B[...]on at the corner of 17th and Champa Streets. The uniforms visible across the eleven players read "Fort Russell" on the majority of jerseys, with at least one shirt reading "Fort Logan" and another appearing to reference a first infantry designation, suggesting this was a combined inter-post Army team rather than a single-fort squad. Fort D.A. Russell, established in 1867 in Cheyenne, Wyoming to protect Union Pacific Railroad workers, was among the most active Army baseball posts in the West during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The team is arranged in three rows against a brick building with blue-painted door and window trim. All players wear matching light gray uniforms with dark lettering and striped caps. The catcher at center middle row holds a large leather mitt, and two crossed bats with three baseballs and a wire catcher's mask are laid out on the steps at front.

Fort Russell in Wyoming Territory was among the frontier posts that proudly formed baseball teams in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, and inter-post competition between garrisons like Fort Russell and Fort Logan, Colorado, was a regular feature of Army recreational life in the region. The reverse bears a partially obscured photographer's imprint reading "Wm. B[...]on, Cor. 17th and [Champa], Denver, Phone Champa 2756."

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