Fine Quarter Plate Daguerreotype of Nathaniel Miller, California Pioneer, Armed and Dressed in Fringed Buckskin Jacket 

Quarter plate daguerreotype of California pioneer Nathaniel Miller (1815-1896).  Miller wears a fringed buckskin jacket with a large knife tucked in his belt and a percussion rifle slung over his shoulder. From the same session as the daguerreotype offered as the previous lot, with the only difference being that Miller stands slightly closer to the camera in this example.

Miller's obituary in the Dec. 24, 1896, edition of the New York Times, states that the New York native went to California in 1849, where he "assisted in forming the first vigilance committee at San Francisco," "erected the first building on Battery Street," and "amassed considerable wealth."   He returned to his hometown of Brookhaven on Long Island and served as Town Supervisor during the Civil War, after which Brookhaven was the only town in the county to be free of debt. 

Provenance: Descended Directly in the Family of Nathaniel Miller

Very good condition, with original seals.