Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -

Sale 2708 - Lot 7

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(AMERICAN INDIANS.) Photograph of an Indian dance performance. Photograph, 4¾ x 6¾ inches, on original plain mount; minimal wear, mount remnants on verso. [Cheyenne, WY?], circa 1890s
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Additional Details

More than a dozen American Indians in full regalia perform a dance for dozens of suited observers standing behind a fence or atop a tall grandstand.

Displayed on the grandstand are two unrelated signs which serve as clues. One advertises a different event: "Concert & Masque Ball To-Night, Keefe Hall & Turner Hall." Keefe Hall was a mainstay of Cheyenne, Wyoming in the 1890s; a Turner Hall opened in the same city in late 1891. The other sign is for a cigar brand: "Made for quality not for looks. Our Leader leads all 5¢ cigars." We have not found this ad copy used elsewhere, but "Our Leader" was a cigar brand from the glory days of cigar label art circa the 1890s.

Provenance: found among the papers of Joseph Mason (see lot 201).

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