Condition Report
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Lot 534
Sale 6319 - American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography
May 1, 2025
10:00AM ET
Live / Cincinnati
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Estimate
$500 -
700
Price Realized
$540
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
[INDIAN WARS]. Cabinet photograph of Comanche, sole survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn. [Bismarck, Dakota Territory: O.S. Goff].
4 x 5 1/2 in. photograph on cardstock mount of the war horse Comanche, the only survivor of the Custer Massacre, with his caretaker Gustave Korn, Troop I, US Cavalry. With newspaper clipping about Comanche and one of his caretakers, Fred Richter, affixed to mount verso.
As Myles Keogh's mount, Comanche was never ridden again, and lived for 14 years after the battle, costing the government an estimated $50 per month. Not credited, but an image taken by O.S. Goff in the aftermath of the Little Big Horn for a public that could not learn enough about the massacre.
With inked notations on print and mount, including caption in lower margin, "Capt. Keogh's Horse Now in Museum at K.U., Lawrence, Kas." Comanche's remains are on display at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum.

