Brazil. Corcovado. Vue prise du chemin de l'acqueduc.
Albumen print, 1880s
Tonality- 9/10, minor creasing; 160 x 205 mm., mounted
$750.
  
Canadian Pacific Railway crossing Stoney Creek Bridge
Albumen print, 1880s
9/10, some edge tears and print coming loose from black backing paper; 217 x 182, mounted
$550.

The photographers were based in Vancouver- inscription on bottom of print in negative. Two prints of Santa Cruz, California on verso.
  
Chinese butcher & grocery shop, San Francisco
Albumen print, 1880s
Tonality- 7/10, minor edge fading; 189 x 245 mm., unmounted
$500.
  
Empress of Japan leaving Vancouver
Albumen print, c. 1880s
9/10, some original retouching to print; 180 x 225 mm, mounted
$475.
  
Horse cart in snow, near Halifax, Canada
Albumen print, 1870s
7-8/10; 140 x 215mm, mounted
$275.

Probably near Halifax with view of 'Public gardens' on verso.
  
Moving of Briggs House in Chicago
Non-matt salt print, c. 1857
9/10; 190 x 234 mm, mounted
$1850.

Due to poor drainage in Chicago during the 19th century, many buildings were raised and/or literally moved to improve hygiene. Briggs House was one of the top hotels in Chicago and in a tribute to American ingenuity, the entire brick hotel was raised. A similar lithograph of the hotel raising also exists. The photographic print process is difficult to ascertain with certainty. Some sources date the moving of Briggs House to 1866 but the look of this print and the dress of people in the photograph suggest the earlier date is correct.
  
Niagara Falls
Albumen print, c. 1870s
9-10/10; 347 x 423 mm, mounted
$2400.

This dramatic winter view of Niagara cannot be attributed to a particular photographer but it came from an important collection which contained other rare mammoth-plate images, including views of Japan and others of California by Eadweard Muybridge. The image illustrated on the web site is cropped slightly smaller than the original print.
  
Old Betz
Salt print, c. 1859
10/10; 182 x 134 mm, mounted on archival paper
$32,500.

A portrait of a Native-American Sioux woman 'said to be' 120 years old. According to some accounts she heroically aided white captives during the Dakota war of 1862. This photograph was later copied and published by Whitney as a reduced-size carte de visite. The Minnesota Historical Society calls Whitney the state's "premier pioneer photographer". This is the only original contact print of this image we know to exist. The provenance is a British collector of native American photographs and costumes who lived among native Americans and wrote about them in the 19th century.
  
Statue of Liberty before installation in the US
Albumen print, c. 1884
6/10; 480 x 210 mm, mounted
$3000.

A rare study of the Statue of Liberty taken in France outside the workshop of Gaget, Gauthier & Co. who constructed the statue to Batholdi's specifications. A similar Fernique photograph is in the 'Album de la Construction de la Statue de la Liberté in the New York Public Library. Fernique's rubberstamp is on the mount of this example. Mount somewhat soiled and torn.
  
Steamship Secaucus
Albumen print, c. 1880s
9/10; 184 x 233 mm, unmounted
$500.
  
The Nevada Fall, Yosemite
Albumen print, c. 1865
9/10; 303 x 206 mm, mounted
$650.

Printed by I.W. Taber, (c. late 1870s) and bears that photographer/publisher's logo at bottom edge of print. Taber published many of Watkins photographs after the latter's bankruptcy.
  
Two men examining moose head in canoe, Canada
Gelatin silver print, c. 1900
8-9/10; 200 x 252, unmounted
$275.
  
U.S. Photography studio
Gelatin silver print, c. 1905
10/10; 193 x 235 mm, mounted
$550.

A good photograph of an American photography studio after the turn of the 19th century. Simon operated in Buffalo, New York.
  
US Patent Office, Washington, D.C.
Albumen print, 1860s
10/10; 183 x 234mm, mounted
$1750.

This is a view of the Patent Office looking towards the Southeast Corner. The Old Patent Office Building, which began construction in 1836, took 31 years to complete, after many changes of heart by the government. Still, it was called 'that noblest of Washington buildings' by Walt Whitman who read to wounded soldiers here. Lincoln's second Inaugural Ball was held in the building in 1865. This photograph was probably taken during the Civil War. There is an interesting and unusual vignette of street life visible in the foreground. The scene comprises a lady, a group of gentlemen, a fruit seller and a strange hooded figure, with reasonable detail under magnification.