$615
American School, 19th Century Half-plate Daguerreotype Portrait of Eli Westcott Bailey (1809-1899), in an embossed leather case, mid to late 1840s. Condition: Minor tarnish, accretion on subject's right lapel and two small accretions at c.r. of the plate, cover detached, case with extensive insect damage. Provenance: By family descent to the current owner. N.B. While inscriptions on the case and an accompanying piece of paper attribute this daguerreotype to Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, it was more likely made in an American studio. Eli Westcott Bailey worked as a silversmith and jeweler in New York from c. 1830 to 1848 when he joined his brother Joseph Trowbridge Bailey in Philadelphia to form Bailey & Company (formerly Bailey & Kitchen and later Bailey, Banks & Biddle) with two additional partners. The firm, which manufactured silverware and jewelry, was located on Chestnut Street, the heart of Philadelphia's very active daguerreotype production. Within a block of Bailey & Co. at 136 Chestnut Street, there were at least five daguerreotype businesses, including Samuel Broadbent's daguerreotype studio Broadbent & Co. in the same building and Marcus Aurelius Root's studio, which was located two doors down.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2015-01-23
