2481

Placerville,CA - Gold Mining Daguerreotype :

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:10,000.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Placerville,CA - Gold Mining Daguerreotype :
Large, half-plate daguerreotype image of thirteen California gold miners at their work site near Hangtown. Three of the thirteen miners have shirts that are tinted blue while one miner holds a gold pan with tinted gold nuggets. They are gathered with their gold pans, shovels, and other implements as they pose beside a wooden sluice box with a rocker box nearby. The unique aspect of this dag is that three of the thirteen miners are Chinese. This is a fabulous pictorial souvenir of the California mining experience of brothers Martin and Thomas Reinhart of Alvada, Ohio, who left home in 1851 and travelled via way of New York on a sailboat around the tip of South America to California. After arriving in California they set up camp near Hangtown, California (presently named Placerville); presumably this daguerreotype represents their "diggings' in the area. The Reinhart brothers were successful in their gold mining near Sutter's Mill, returned home to Alvada, Ohio via a trek across the Isthmus of Panama, a sailboat journey back to New York and overland travel to Ohio. This dag is in a full leather case that measures 4.75" X 6"; the actual size of the dag is 4.25" X 5.5". The plate is quite strong with good contrast but has a large horizontal wipe in the sky area, which fortunately doesn't detract from the pictorial content of this wonderful collectible. Genealogical information on the Reinhart family is included.