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 560

Stereoview, Interior Chinese Restaurant, San Francisco, Watkins

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
Two women posed inside a San Francisco Chinese restaurant fill this albumen stereoview from Carleton Watkins's celebrated New Series, published from his gallery at 427 Montgomery Street. The view carries series number 3764 and dates to the 1870s or early 1880s, a period when Watkins actively documented Chinatown interiors alongside his landscape work throughout the American West.

Both subjects are seated and wear dark silk tunics over lighter wide-leg trousers, with the figure at left holding a folding fan open across her lap and the figure at right resting a closed fan against the chair arm. Between and behind them a carved wooden side table holds a white porcelain vessel and a potted narcissus arrangement in full bloom, while a laughing Buddha figure and decorative lacquered panels are visible on the shelf behind. A polished metal basin rests on the floor at center.

Carleton Watkins (1829–1916) is among the most significant photographers of nineteenth-century America, best known for his monumental Yosemite views, though his Chinatown series represents a rare and historically important body of documentary work on San Francisco's Chinese community.

The orange mount verso is plain pink with no inscriptions. The recto mount border carries the printed title "Interior Chinese restaurant, S. F." and the series number 3764.

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