104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010  | 
(212) 254-4710  |  Mon - Fri, 10AM - 6PM
Follow Us:

  • We are happy to call you during the auction and place bids on your behalf. To arrange phone bidding, please call Swann's bid department during business hours.

    (212) 254-4710 ext. 0
    Mon - Fri 10AM - 6PM

     

    Or, e-mail a list of lots with the sale number and your contact information to phonebids@swanngalleries.com. Be sure to include a phone number where we can reach you.

    Bids may also be submitted via fax. Send a list of lots with the sale number and your contact information to (212) 979-1017. You will receive a confirmation before the sale.

    Sale 2489 | Lot 321
    Price Realized: $4,000With Buyer's Premium
    Show Hammer Price

    • Click Image To Enlarge

      Additional Images

    • Sale 2489 Lot 321

      (SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY)
      A suite of 8 photographs featuring the spirits of historically important figures, as summoned during a séance, and photographed by Dr. William Keeler.
      With images including the ghoulishly floating spirits of Mary Todd Lincoln, Moses, Robert Burns, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Cockburn, among others. Silver prints, 5 printed on postcard paper, the images measuring 5 1/2x3 3/4 inches (14x9.5 cm.), and slightly smaller, 5 with notations on verso identifying some of the spirits, and 2 identifying a sitter (Aidan R. Coburn), one with the photographer's credit, and one with the date, in ink, on verso. Circa 1909


      Estimate $3,000 - 4,500



      Dr. William Keeler was a Washington D.C. based spirit photographer, and brother to the well-known Spiritualist Medium Pierre L. O. A. Keeler. In addition to studio sittings, for just $3 Keeler also offered a mail-order spirit photo service. Interested parties were requested to send a photo of themselves after keeping it on their person for two days (so as to increase "personal magnetism"). In return they would receive two photographs connecting them with "those gone before." Results were not guaranteed. However, testaments to Keeler's practice were published in 1906 and 1915.


      Price Realized (with Buyer's Premium) $4,000
  • Previous Lot Next Lot