Recently sold photograph

[Digging Fool]

About a month ago, a small ambrotype sold for around 2900.00 at an auction house in Va., and the picture was of 2 Confederate soldiers, but the auction house couldn't identify them. They were each smoking a pipe, but no weapons were visible in the pictures. In addition to the people in the crowd, there were six phone bidders, and one of them got the picture. I was wondering what could have made that picture THAT valuable? I think the cover was missing, also. Just curious, as I do get around to local auctions. Thanks for any info!

 

[Mike Serpa]

Do have a link to the photo?

 

[Digging Fool]

Do have a link to the photo?

It's probably gone off the auction site by now, but it was sold by Victoria Auctions in Victoria, Va.

 

[Badgercwcollector]

It just takes 2 people with cash burning a hole in their pocket lol

 

[Digging Fool]

 

[Legion Para]

You are expecting an answer without our seeing the entire image, case and item description.

Thirty years ago Civil War images were bought by Civil War collectors. Today Civil War images are bought by Civil War collectors and Photography collectors.

One of the bidders might have known the identity of the soldiers in the image.

Condition, content and identification can affect value.

On any given day, anything can happen in an auction.

This famous half plate ambrotype of John Pelham sold in 2010 for $50,000 plus commission.

 

[Mike Serpa]

Difficult to see but they seem to have character. I would say $3,000 in not unusual for a period ambrotype.

This one, of an unknown Confederate Sgt. and another man, sold for $1,550. I like the image you posted a whole lot more.

And this one that sold for $2,125.

Why did this photo of Captain Anthony Wayne Caldwell, 5th Tenn. Inf., sell for $7,170? Bought buy a collector, museum, relative?

 

[chubachus]

About a month ago, a small ambrotype sold for around 2900.00 at an auction house in Va., and the picture was of 2 Confederate soldiers, but the auction house couldn't identify them. They were each smoking a pipe, but no weapons were visible in the pictures. In addition to the people in the crowd, there were six phone bidders, and one of them got the picture. I was wondering what could have made that picture THAT valuable? I think the cover was missing, also. Just curious, as I do get around to local auctions. Thanks for any info!

Could also be that the photographer was identified. Photos of Confederates by Richmond photographer Charles Rees are some of the most coveted Civil War photos.

 

[Legion Para]

This image is a half plate ambrotype by Rees. The individual is identified and is wearing a regulation unifirm. The image is a signed Rees and also can be identified by the studio props. You can't tell by these photos, but the image is crystal clear and almost looks three dimensional. Ballpark value $25,000 - $35,000. This is as good as it gets. It has everything: content, clarity, condition and identification.

 

[Digging Fool]

It just takes 2 people with cash burning a hole in their pocket lol

I was able to post it above.

 

[Digging Fool]

WOW! I had no idea that these old photos were worth that much. One thing for sure, though. I'm too "po" to get into collecting those.

 

[Digging Fool]

You are expecting an answer without our seeing the entire image, case and item description.

Thirty years ago Civil War images were bought by Civil War collectors. Today Civil War images are bought by Civil War collectors and Photography collectors.

One of the bidders might have known the identity of the soldiers in the image.

Condition, content and identification can affect value.

On any given day, anything can happen in an auction.

This famous half plate ambrotype of John Pelham sold in 2010 for $50,000 plus commission.

View attachment 195011

I only showed the picture as was listed on the auction website, but I do know that the cover was missing. I was just curious. Really, there was no description given, but that it was found in a house in Blackstone, Va., and no family names were given. Thanks!

 

[James N.]

WOW! I had no idea that these old photos were worth that much. One thing for sure, though. I'm too "po" to get into collecting those.

Not necessarily - knowledge is power. One photo I've posted here frequently is this unlikely-looking Confederate officer I fairly recently bought for $5-10 because nobody recognized what he was. My favorite story though concerned someone who bought a large photo of a man wearing a dark suit (to my knowledge I've never seen this photo reproduced) which he found in a Southern antique shop. It supposedly turned out to be the inauguration photo of Confederate President Jefferson Davis which he subsequently sold to the Smithsonian for $25,000! Here's my apparently North Carolina "Confederate officer":

 

[James N.]

These two are Federal subjects but were others I also picked up CHEAP. The one above (an admittedly terrible photo!) I bought for $10 or $20 from a dealer friend who hadn't noticed the kepi or forage cap the subject's holding, nor the fact he was wearing a typical regulation four-button sack coat. The one below I picked out of a pile of $2 CDV's and using the Manitowoc, Wisc. address of the photographer plus the name Louis La Count written on the face was able to identify fully the subject in only a few minutes of online searching: https://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/pvt-louis-b-lacount-co-a-5th-wisconsin-vol-inf.138371/

Another fellow purchased ridiculously cheaply was this likely Confederate, or at least a period soldier:

Generally speaking, small card photos like CDV's can also be very expensive but not as much; ones of famous people were printed and sold to the public much like collector's or baseball cards today, so few are really rare and can often be found relatively cheaply like tis one of Union General J. B. MacPherson:

And although not a wartime image, I found this larger cabinet card photo of Confederate veteran J. J. Brown who I was also able to identify by unit (https://www.civilwartalk.com/thread...own-photographed-in-memphis-tenn-1897.128983/) wearing a postwar uniform for $7 in a local antique mall:

 

[Digging Fool]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing them.

 

[on again]

This image is a half plate ambrotype by Rees. The individual is identified and is wearing a regulation unifirm. The image is a signed Rees and also can be identified by the studio props. You can't tell by these photos, but the image is crystal clear and almost looks three dimensional. Ballpark value $25,000 - $35,000. This is as good as it gets. It has everything: content, clarity, condition and identification.

View attachment 195020

View attachment 195021

who was the subject identity?

 

[on again]

Difficult to see but they seem to have character. I would say $3,000 in not unusual for a period ambrotype.

This one, of an unknown Confederate Sgt. and another man, sold for $1,550. I like the image you posted a whole lot more.
View attachment 195015

And this one that sold for $2,125.
View attachment 195017

Why did this photo of Captain Anthony Wayne Caldwell, 5th Tenn. Inf., sell for $7,170? Bought buy a collector, museum, relative?
View attachment 195018

The second picture a son and his father prehaps?

 

[R. Porter]

Not necessarily - knowledge is power. One photo I've posted here frequently is this unlikely-looking Confederate officer I fairly recently bought for $5-10 because nobody recognized what he was. My favorite story though concerned someone who bought a large photo of a man wearing a dark suit (to my knowledge I've never seen this photo reproduced) which he found in a Southern antique shop. It supposedly turned out to be the inauguration photo of Confederate President Jefferson Davis which he subsequently sold to the Smithsonian for $25,000! Here's my apparently North Carolina "Confederate officer":

View attachment 195095

Reminds me of Grandpa Munster.

 

[Mike Serpa]

The second picture a son and his father prehaps?

Could very well be.