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IMPORTANT RARE 1/2 PLATE DAGUERREOTYPE OF A GOLD MINING SCENE WITH 17 MINERS.

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:35,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
IMPORTANT RARE 1/2 PLATE DAGUERREOTYPE OF A GOLD MINING SCENE WITH 17 MINERS.
IMPORTANT RARE 1/2 PLATE DAGUERREOTYPE OF A GOLD MINING SCENE WITH 17 MINERS. Image shows open mining area having 17 miners holding various mining equipment or performing mining tasks. Miners are shown with shovels, wheelbarrows, sledgehammers and crowbar. All are at various levels in a dug out area with large bank in background. Large pipe with pulley system is shown horizontal across picture. Wood ramps are positioned on large rocks for moving wheelbarrows. Most of the men are facing the camera with two men in center area; one with top hat, other in hat and white shirt who may be the owners. At top of embankment is seen a large stump and behind stump is a white tent or cabin. Image has faint tinting to shirts and rocks. This daguerreotype was found resting on a shelf in a country store in Waldoboro, Maine. This recent discovery is the first time this image has ever been on the market. In researching its history, it was removed from a family home in the Dover-Foxcroft, Maine area. The family does not know when or how it was acquired but there was a geologist and ardent rock collector in the family earlier in the 20th century. Another possibility is that the family could have obtained it from one of the area's most notorious figures, Sir Harry Oakes. He struck it rich in Canada and at the turn of the century he was Canada's richest man owning and mining the second richest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere; which was the Lakeshore Mine at Kirkland. CONDITION: Very good, seal has been broken, toning to edges, no case, there are a few light brown spots also a few pin head size green tarnish specks. This is a magnificent image and is worthy of anyone's attention. 9-90000 (35,000-50,000)