PRESIDENTS 1860 CAMPAIGN An uncut tintype sheet of 30 min

Sale 2687 - Lot 200

Price Realized: $ 11,875

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000

(PRESIDENTS--1860 CAMPAIGN.) An uncut tintype sheet of 30 miniature campaign photographs of the 4 candidates for use in badges. 30 images on one tintype sheet, 5 x 4 inches to sight (each image 7/8 x 5/8 inches oval); moderate wear including light scratches and abrasions, some rust on verso. Not examined out of period metal mat. No place: [Peter Neff, 1860]

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Additional Details

This sheet includes 12 Lincoln portraits mixed in with 8 of Douglas, 5 of Breckenridge and 5 of Bell--a good approximation of the perceived popularity of the four candidates among the northern audience. Each is a photograph of a Currier & Ives lithograph of the candidate. The Lincolns are two different renderings of Brady's February 1860 Cooper Union portrait (Ostendorf O-17). These portraits were meant to be cut out and marketed as badges and tokens.

Another slightly smaller example of the same image is known with a very faint embossed stamp on the right edge reading "Melainotype Plate for Neff's Pat. 19 Feb. 59" (melainotype, tintype, and ferrotype all being synonymous). The demand was discussed in Humphrey's Journal of Photography in September 1860: "The admirers of Old Uncle Abe, Breckinridge, Douglas and all the other candidates want pictures of their leaders, and, as they want them on melainotype plates, in the shape of brooches, pins, studs, etc., an unprecedented demand has arisen for this article, and we learn that our friend Neff has all he can do to keep up with his orders." See Sullivan's American Political Badges, Lincoln portraits #2 and #3 (page 196).