Herb Peck collection of Civil War ambrotypes, lost to thieves in 1978, returned to the family and sold at Fleischer’s

Circa-1862 ambrotype of Calvin and James Walker of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry (Cook’s Tennessee Brigade), which sold for $19,500 ($23,985 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Herb Peck (1936-2004) was a passionate collector of firearms and Civil War daguerrotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, keeping his collection all around the Nashville home he shared with his wife Felicity and son Tim. Against his better judgment, Herb brought a known-to-be-shady fellow collector over to view his collection. Shortly thereafter, his home was burglarized in a targeted strike on his gun and daguerrotype collection.

As recounted in a masterful article in Military Images Magazine, the theft left Herb shattered. Felicity recounted, “It broke his soul.” Herb spent the remaining years of his life trying to recover the images, many of which are world-famous and have been featured in books and in Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary. But the trail went cold, and Herb succumbed to a heart attack in 2004.

Amazingly, a single image of Herb’s appeared on eBay in 2006. By now internationally sought by collectors, thanks to Herb’s continual searches and promotion using photocopy flyers, the FBI recovered it. Then, more of Herb’s collection began to appear on eBay, and again, they were all recovered. In the end, 40 of the stolen images have been reunited with the family, who decided to liquidate the collection at Fleischer’s Auctions on March 16. Complete results are available at LiveAuctioneers.

The top sellers blew well past their conservative estimates, as seen below:

A circa-1862 ambrotype of a Confederate soldier holding a Colt M1855 revolving rifle, which is something virtually unseen in CSA portraiture. His unusual headgear also drove interest in the lot, which hammered for $26,500 ($32,595 with buyer’s premium).

A circa-1862 ambrotype of Calvin and James Walker of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry (Cook’s Tennessee Brigade). Its remarkable clarity is one reason the image has been reproduced in countless publications despite it having been stolen. It made $19,500 ($23,985 with buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $1,250-$1,750.

An undated ambrotype which, according to Fleischer, is considered one of the premier images in the Herb Peck collection: a school-aged Confederate wielding an enormous Bowie knife as a symbol of Southern defiance. It sold for $16,000 ($19,680 with buyer’s premium), blowing out the $2,250-$2,750 estimate.

Generally considered to be the finest ambrotype portrait in Herb’s collection, this unidentified CSA soldier poses with two Colt Navy revolvers, a Bowie knife, and a model 1842 musket, sending a message loud and clear to any viewer. Some have claimed the subject to be Pvt. John Rulle of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry, who was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. Also reproduced endlessly, its popularity showed with bidders, where it hammered for $12,000 ($14,760 with buyer’s premium).

Circa-1862 ambrotype of a Confederate soldier holding a Colt M1855 revolving rifle, which sold for $26,500 ($32,595 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

Circa-1862 ambrotype of a Confederate soldier holding a Colt M1855 revolving rifle, which sold for $26,500 ($32,595 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

Circa-1862 ambrotype of Calvin and James Walker of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry (Cook’s Tennessee Brigade), which sold for $19,500 ($23,985 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

Circa-1862 ambrotype of Calvin and James Walker of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry (Cook’s Tennessee Brigade), which sold for $19,500 ($23,985 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

Ambrotype of school-aged Confederate wielding a Bowie knife, which sold for $16,000 ($19,680 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

Ambrotype of school-aged Confederate wielding a Bowie knife, which sold for $16,000 ($19,680 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

Ambrotype of a CSA soldier with two Colt Navy revolvers, a Bowie knife, and a model 1842 musket, which sold for $12,000 ($14,760 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

Ambrotype of a CSA soldier with two Colt Navy revolvers, a Bowie knife, and a model 1842 musket, which sold for $12,000 ($14,760 with buyer’s premium) at Fleischer's.

Ambrotype of a Confederate soldier with two large pistols tucked into his belt, one a rarely seen M1858 Starr revolver, which sold for $9,250 ($11,377 with buyer's premium) at Fleischer's.

Ambrotype of a Confederate soldier with two large pistols tucked into his belt, one a rarely seen M1858 Starr revolver, which sold for $9,250 ($11,377 with buyer's premium) at Fleischer's.

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte has worked in editorial, design and the toy and auction industries for more than 30 years. He co-founded Auction Central News in 2007.

Gold Rush-era daguerreotypes of a miner and his claim captured the moment at Hindman

One of two 1852 daguerreotypes of miner William J. Jewell and his California Gold Rush claim, which together sold for $48,000 ($62,400 with buyer’s premium) at Hindman.

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CHICAGO – Billed as American Historical Ephemera & Photography, Hindman‘s November 30 sale was all about vintage cartes-de-visite, ambrotypes and daguerrotypes, with some amazing performances captured for posterity. Complete results are available at LiveAuctioneers.

As anticipated, buyers surged to the pair of daguerrotypes of miner William J. Jewell (1818-1885) in the California gold fields of Poverty Bar (in Calaveras County, of Mark Twain’s jumping frog fame). Bidding started at $7,500 against a presale estimate of $15,000-$25,000, but kept climbing until leveling off at $48,000, or $62,400 with buyer’s premium.

Walking into a Victorian parlor of the late 19th century, visitors would be greeted by fascinating displays of cartes-de-visite (visiting cards, similar to the American cabinet card) – small, inexpensively produced photographs that were collected and traded. Often, the subject matter was the famous names of the day, but many other examples survive of lesser-known people and things.

Jose Maria Mora (1847-1926) was a well-known New York City cabinet card photographer whose hallmark was using theatrical backdrops to depict exotic locales for his photographic subjects. This collection of 228 Mora CDVs reads like a list of forgotten 19th-century celebrity culture, which clearly caught bidders’ attention. Estimated at only $500-$700, the lot hammered for $6,000 ($7,800 with buyer’s premium), a very surprising result indeed.

A quarter-plate ambrotype of the Randolph & Bridgewater Railroad’s flagship 4-4-0 steam locomotive with single-truck, six-wheel tender sent rail photography enthusiasts into a bidding war, pushing the lot to $6,000 ($7,800 with buyer’s premium), double its high estimate. Captured in the late 1840s at the R&B locomotive shed in South Braintree, Massachusetts, the locomotive type is an extremely early version that would be refined throughout the Civil War period, culminating in examples like that made famous in Buster Keaton’s 1926 silent classic The General.
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Two 1852 daguerreotypes of miner William J. Jewell and his California Gold Rush claim, which sold for $48,000 ($62,400 with buyer’s premium) at Hindman.
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A 228-piece carte-de-visite collection by photographer Jose Maria Mora, which sold for $6,000 ($7,800 with buyer’s premium) at Hindman.
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Quarter-plate ambrotype of the Randolph & Bridgewater Railroad’s flagship 4-4-0 steam locomotive with tender, which sold for $6,000 ($7,800 with buyer’s premium) at Hindman.
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Ferdinand V. Hayden, photographic views along the right-of-way of the Union Pacific – Central Pacific transcontinental railroad line, which sold for $8,500 ($11,050 with buyer’s premium) at Hindman.
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Andrew Miller, boudoir photograph of a Buffalo Soldier with mount, which sold for $3,250 ($4,225 with buyer’s premium) at Hindman.
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Unique photo of the first soldier to die in the Civil War offered at Swann, Sept. 28

Unique ambrotype of Luther C. Ladd, a Union soldier from Lowell, Mass. who became the first fatality of the Civil War, estimated at $8,000-$12,000 at Swann Auction Galleries.

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NEW YORK – In any war, there is always someone who becomes the first to die. In the case of the Civil War, we know who that person was: Luther C. Ladd, a 17-year-old Union soldier from Lowell, Massachusetts, a member of Company D in the 6th Massachusetts Volunteers.

But he didn’t perish on a grassy field in the rural South. Ladd and four others lost their lives on April 19, 1861 in Baltimore, when a mob attacked them as they were traversing the 10 blocks between the train station where they had disembarked to the train station where they would continue their journey south. The incident, known variously as the Baltimore Riot of 1861, the Pratt Street Riots, and the Pratt Street Massacre, occurred one week after the Civil War started.

The date was inadvertently charged with meaning, as it was the 86th anniversary of the battles in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts that started the American Revolutionary War. And the hometown of Ladd and Addison Whitney, who died alongside him, carried extra significance in the context of the Civil War. Lowell was America’s first industrial city, full of textile mills. After the cotton was grown in the south and harvested by enslaved people, it went to Lowell, where young, unmarried women known as mill girls transformed it into cloth.

Weeks or perhaps days before he died, Ladd donned his uniform and sat for an ambrotype photograph. The only known example of its kind, it will appear in the Printed & Manuscript Americana sale taking place at Swann Auction Galleries on Thursday, September 28, with an estimate of $8,000-$12,000.

A second lot in the sale, estimated at $800-$1,200, relates to the aftermath of the Baltimore riot. Lot 111 features a funeral program for the May 6, 1861 services for Ladd and Whitney, held at Lowell’s Huntington Hall, the very building from which their company departed. Also included are two cartes-de-visite of the obelisk-topped memorial under which the soldiers’ remains were reburied in 1865. Known as the Ladd and Whitney monument, it still stands on a triangular strip of land mere feet from Lowell City Hall and Lowell High School, looking exactly as it does in the period photos in the Swann sale.

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Unique ambrotype of Luther C. Ladd, a Union soldier from Lowell, Mass. who became the first fatality of the Civil War, estimated at $8,000-$12,000 at Swann Auction Galleries.
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Funeral program for the services held in May 1861 in Lowell, Mass. for Union soldiers Luther C. Ladd and Addison Whitney, along with cartes-de-visite of the 1865 monument dedicated in their honor, estimated at $800-$1,200 at Swann Auction Galleries.
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October 7, 1789 issue of the Gazette of the United States containing the first national Thanksgiving proclamation, issued by President George Washington, estimated at $15,000-$25,000 at Swann Auction Galleries.
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Photograph from a trove of archival material relating to Robert E. Peary, American explorer of the Arctic, estimated at $50,000-$75,000 at Swann Auction Galleries.
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Handbill and photograph from a collection of archival material relating to Ford’s Theatre, the site of Lincoln’s assassination, and the Ford family, estimated at $50,000-$75,000 at Swann Auction Galleries.
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Spectacular coins, some from shipwrecks, will emerge at Holabird, Apr. 29

1857-S $20 U.S. gold coin with a deep golden-red patina, known as the ‘Golden Gate’ coin, estimated at $75,000-$200,000
1857-S $20 U.S. gold coin with a deep golden-red patina, known as the ‘Golden Gate’ coin, estimated at $75,000-$200,000
1857-S $20 U.S. gold coin with a deep golden-red patina, known as the ‘Golden Gate’ coin, estimated at $75,000-$200,000

RENO, Nev. – For the first time, two numismatic companies that are giants in their field – Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC and Finest Known, LLC – will join forces to hold a sale titled Treasure Trove of Rarities: Coins & Treasure Shipwreck Auction on Saturday, April 29. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

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Dogs and their people bonded forever in new book of antique photos

A photograph from the Anthony Cavo book ‘LOVE IMMORTAL – Antique Photographs and Stories of Dogs and Their People.’ Courtesy of Harper Design

NEW YORK – A newly published book titled LOVE IMMORTAL (Harper Design 9780063204294; $25.99) presents for the first time more than 200 photographs from the private collection of longtime antiques collector, dealer, and appraiser Anthony Cavo. This artfully designed collection of Daguerrotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, and sepia and black-and-white images includes an entertaining mix of historical anecdotes, true stories, superstitions, excerpts from literature, letters, quotes, and fun facts that are sure to make this book irresistible to dog lovers and to those with an interest in photography.

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General Tom Thumb daguerreotype commands big price at Potter & Potter

Quarter-plate daguerreotype of General Tom Thumb, which sold for $18,000
Quarter-plate daguerreotype of General Tom Thumb, which sold for $18,000
Quarter-plate daguerreotype of General Tom Thumb, which sold for $18,000

CHICAGO – Potter & Potter Auctions‘ June 19th circus and sideshow sale delivered jaw dropping results from start to finish. When the hammer fell for the last time after a day of spirited bidding, 72 lots realized $1,000-2,499; 22 lots scored $2,500-9,999; and three lots broke the $10,000 mark.

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