[WESTERN AMERICANA]. A cabinet card and autograph letter signed by an identified Chinese miner working in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Sale 1344 - American Historical Ephemera and Photography
May 31, 2024
10:00AM ET
Live / Cincinnati
Estimate
$400 -
$600
Sold for $4,128
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
[WESTERN AMERICANA]. A cabinet card and autograph letter signed by an identified Chinese miner working in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Signed ("Wong Hees James"). Galena, D.T., 2[?] May 1882. One page, 5 x 8 1/2 in., mounted to board, fully separated along horizontal line, losses to upper edge, soiling, residue. Addressed to "Miss Lizzie A Fales."
In part: "Befor [sic] I going up your places To School I have a time Me Ermember [sic] you Said I go leave places write Letter to you. I though I would i write a few Lines to Let you know wat what i was Dowing [sic]. I am working for Stearns & Co. Coal Camp i get forty Dallar [sic] pr month...me am very Delighteth [sic]."
Cabinet photograph on cardstock mount (trimming to all edges, toning, spotting, soiling, heavy wear and loss to verso). Deadwood, [Dakota Territory]: Pollock & Boyden, ca 1882. Photographers' pictorial imprint to verso, though much of it is lost to surface damage. Print with period ink inscription: "This boy I taught English in Deadwood SD. 1881 / [?] was a neighbor of Wing Tsue." Mount recto with period ink identification: "Wong Jim He."
The subject poses standing next to a studio pillar, wearing a hat and a wide draped shirt with Mandarin collar. He appears to have an unknown object crumpled in one hand.
Provenance: The estate of Miss Lizzie Fales of Providence, RI, who taught school in South Dakota in the 1880s (consignor note).
In part: "Befor [sic] I going up your places To School I have a time Me Ermember [sic] you Said I go leave places write Letter to you. I though I would i write a few Lines to Let you know wat what i was Dowing [sic]. I am working for Stearns & Co. Coal Camp i get forty Dallar [sic] pr month...me am very Delighteth [sic]."
Cabinet photograph on cardstock mount (trimming to all edges, toning, spotting, soiling, heavy wear and loss to verso). Deadwood, [Dakota Territory]: Pollock & Boyden, ca 1882. Photographers' pictorial imprint to verso, though much of it is lost to surface damage. Print with period ink inscription: "This boy I taught English in Deadwood SD. 1881 / [?] was a neighbor of Wing Tsue." Mount recto with period ink identification: "Wong Jim He."
The subject poses standing next to a studio pillar, wearing a hat and a wide draped shirt with Mandarin collar. He appears to have an unknown object crumpled in one hand.
Provenance: The estate of Miss Lizzie Fales of Providence, RI, who taught school in South Dakota in the 1880s (consignor note).
This lot is located in Cincinnati.
Condition Report
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