Lot 27

Precious pair of quarter-plate California ambrotypes identified by a brass mat stamp for Wm. Shew, 425 Montg.Y St., San Francisco. According to Craig’s Registry, William Shew and his brothers Trueman, Jacob and Myron began daguerreotyping in Watertown in 1841. They built a skylight gallery in Ogdensburgh but then moved to Rochester and then to Geneva, N.Y. “Still not profiting from the process, they moved to New York City and established the firm of L.P. Hayden & Co. at 1 Park Place. It is interesting to note that in 1842, when Edward Anthony was listed as a Daguerreian at 11 Park Row, it was the address that one source documents as having been previously vacated by the four Shew brothers.

In 1841, John Plumbe, Jr. reportedly hired William Shew to manage his Boston gallery, while placing the other Shew brothers at other galleries. From 1841 to 1844, he was noted as a Daguerreian, apparently operating the Plumbe gallery in Boston. In 1848-1849 Shew was listed again as a Daguerreian, this time at 123 Washington St., in business as William Shew & Co., with brother Myron. From 1849 to 1851 he was listed as the sole Daguerreian at that address. One source indicates Shew arrived in San Francisco in 1850 and had various addresses in the city.

These images were also deaccessioned from the “Property of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to Benefit the Acquisition Fund of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts.” They each have a museum box with a photo on the front and are identified as portraits of “Miss Emily Tucker at Five Years and Miss Helena Tucker at Five Years.” While they could be fraternal twins, we suspect that the girl in yellow is about to be six while her sister just turned five, and they were the daughters of Helena M. Tucker from the previous lot. Both images have labels reading EF Tucker, but the girl in yellow, marked 20 on the label, is Helena, and Emily is marked 18. We have included a modern note stating their identification. 

Both women are captured in the soft crayon vignette style. Emily is bright eyed with a grin, and her short curly locks illustrate a tremendous amount of detail. She wears a lovely, patterned, off-the-shoulder dress and her face has a hint of color. The image is in excellent minus condition with beautiful tones and contrast. The plate is still sealed and as seen there is a light toning on the perimeter.  Her sister Helena has a slightly crooked smile that is quite endearing. Her curly dark locks are thicker and show a great amount of detail. She wears a gorgeous yellow tinted off-the shoulder dress. The contrast and tonal qualities are spectacular and as nice as you will find. There are a few small spots as seen. We have opened the image and used compressed air to remove a few other small spots to preserve the image from future spotting. The old seals are still there so the new owner can choose whether or not to reseal it with archival Filmoplast. We also cleaned the old glass on the inside. Both images are housed in beautiful Eickmeyer style cases that were possibly made by Shew since he was also a case maker early in his career.  A perfect pair of California images!

Opening bid – $480