Mexican War daguerreotype of identified officers from the 5th U.S. Infantry. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
LiveAuctioners.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Some of the highlights in the sale include an important whole plate daguerreotype of Gov. Boutwell and his council and a Civil War and personal archive of Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel.
“We are excited to offer 345 fresh-to-the-market lots in Cowan’s American History auction. The lots featured in the auction represent a wide-range of historic moments and individuals from our nation’s fascinating history,” Katie Horstman, director of American History at Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
An important full plate daguerreotype of Gov. Boutwell and his Council is estimated to bring $16,000/18,000. George Sewall Boutwell was a statesman who served as secretary of the treasury under President Ulysses S. Grant, the 20th governor of Massachusetts, a senator and representative from Massachusetts, and the first commissioner of Internal Revenue under President Abraham Lincoln. The daguerreotype is attributed to John Adams Whipple, a well-known American inventor and photographer.
A rare Bell & Everett multicolored Union Badge for the campaign of 1860 is estimated to sell for $10,000/15,000. This rare silk and multicolored ribbon features bust portraits of John Bell and Edward Everett, Constitutional Union presidential and vice-presidential candidates for 1860. Only one of two known to exist, the other ribbon is in private hands. This ribbon was found approximately 25 years ago in a book of poetry from the Washington D.C. area. A slave owner, John Bell was considered moderate for his conciliatory position on admitting new territories without slavery—a position that infuriated Southern politicians and made him a compromise candidate that could be supported by Northerners and former Whigs.
A William Henry Harrison campaign flag banner is estimated at $10,000/15,000. This is only the third known example of this rare political textile.
A rare Daniel S. Mitchell & John Hiller American Indian CDVs album is estimated to sell for $12,000/16,000. This lot contains 36 CDVs housed in a period album with inked identification on most pages. Many of the Sioux pictured in the album were present at the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty and the Battle of Little Big Horn.
A rare Mexican War daguerreotype of identified officers from the 5th U.S. Infantry is expected to sell for $10,000/15,000. This quarter plate depicts two officers of the 5th U.S. Infantry taken in Vera Cruz, Mexico in April, 1847. The officer smiling on the left is Capt. William H. Chapman and the officer to the right is believed to be Capt. Moses Merrill, killed at Molino del Rey, Mexico.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Buck Garrett’s personal shaving mug is expected to bring $10,000/15,000. This early 20th-century porcelain shaving mug features a photographic transfer of Buck Garrett on horseback, aiming his revolver at an unknown target. Garrett, born in Tennessee on May 24, 1871, moved as a child with his family to Paris, Texas, and got his first taste of manhunting there in Paris at the age of 18 as a U.S. marshal’s posse man. In 1894 Deputy Garrett was in the manhunt for the last Dalton gang member, Bill Dalton. Bill was hunted down and killed near Ardmore, Okla. Sam Henderson, a newspaper reporter accompanying the manhunt, wrote that “Buck Garrett was the man who shot and killed the last of the Dalton gang; he will be known as the most famous lawman from Peking, China to London, England.”
An Edward Curtis platinum photograph, Canon de Chelly, is estimated at $8,000/10,000. The photograph is signed by Curtis in the lower left corner.
A Gideon Welles’ Nov. 18, 1863 pass to the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery is estimated to bring $3,000/5,000. This pass was issued to Gideon Welles to accompany Lincoln by special military train to Gettysburg for the dedication.
A Civil War and personal archive of Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel is estimated to bring $10,000/15,000. A native of Cincinnati, Weitzel was a major general in the Union army during the Civil War, as well as the acting mayor of the city of New Orleans during the Federal occupancy of the city. This extraordinary, large collection offers nearly 1,200 letters and documents relating to one of the stalwart generals of the Union Army. From his days at West Point and unfolding career in the antebellum Corps of Engineers through the Civil War and his service in Texas, the collection offers a rich perspective on the most important, and most dramatic moments in Weitzel’s life, with particularly rich detail for his time in Texas.
An Andrew Jackson ALS to Col. George Gibson, regarding the need for supplies for the campaign in Florida, 1819, is estimated to sell for $8,000/10,000. Gibson was the 11th quartermaster general from April 1816 to April 1818.
To learn more about Cowan’s and this auction visit the website at www.cowans.com.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Mexican War daguerreotype of identified officers from the 5th U.S. Infantry. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. Rare Bell & Everett multicolor Union Badge for the campaign of 1860. Estimate: $10,000/15,000. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. William Henry Harrison campaign flag banner. Estimate: $10,000/15,000. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. Rare Daniel S. Mitchell & John Hillers American Indian CDVs album. Estimate: 12,000/16,000. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. Deputy U.S. Marshal Buck Garrett’s personal shaving mug. Estimate: $10,000/15,000. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. Edward Curtis platinum photograph, ‘Canon de Chelly.’ Estimate: $8,000/10,000. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
