Condition Report
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Auction Specialist
Lot 191
Sale 6425 - American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography, including The Larry Ness Collection of Native American Photography
Part I - Lots 1-222
Oct 23, 2025
10:00AM ET
Part II - Lots 223-376
Oct 24, 2025
10:00AM ET
Live / Cincinnati
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Estimate
$700 -
1,000
Price Realized
$5,400
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
[NATIVE AMERICANS]. Large format photograph of Captain R.H. Pratt with Kiowa and Southern Cheyenne prisoners at Fort Marion. Ca 1878.
9 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. unmounted albumen photograph. Housed in a modern frame with glass on both sides (not examined out of the frame). Uncredited. Verso bears miniscule pencil inscription reading "Bishop Whipple," likely referring to Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901), who acted as an advocate for Native Americans.
21 Native American subjects are featured sitting in rows, with Captain Richard Henry Pratt standing to the viewer's left. They pose outside of one of the fort's masonry buildings wearing sack coats and having what appear to be kepis or forage caps in their laps. Identities of the subjects provided by Karen Daniels Petersen's Plains Indian Art from Fort Marion (and obtained by us from the Smithsonian website), from front row to back row, left to right: Little Chief, Shave Head, Nick, Buzzard, Koba, Tounkeuh, Ohettoint, Captain Pratt, Tsadeltah, Matches, Buffalo Scout, Tsaitkopeta, Soaring Eagle, White Bear, Bear's Heart, Zonekeuh, Roman Nose, Squint Eyes, White Man, Cohoe, Making Medicine, and Zotom.
Several of those pictured likely went on to attend Carlisle Indian School, a project of Captain Pratt's where Native Americans learned to become "civilized" through work and education. One confirmed student of Carlisle featured here is Matches (or Carl Matches), who is best known for his ledger drawings he created while confined at Fort Marion.
This lot is located in Cincinnati.
