1 / 2
Click To Zoom

Condition Report

Contact Information

Auction Specialist

Lot 319

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
Own a similar item?
Estimate
$700 - 1,000
Price Realized
$960
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium

Lot Description

BARRY, David F. (1854-1934), photographer. Three cabinet cards of Hunkpapa Lakota Chief Gall, his wife, and nephew.


3 cabinet photographs on cardstock mounts, each with Barry's imprint on mount recto and/or verso. Subjects include: Chief Gall, featured with bare legs and torso, his head adorned by a single feather and his body clothed by a simple tunic cloth tied around his waist. He wears moccasins on his feet and a large cross-shaped pendant over his chest. Barry's West Superior imprint on recto and verso. -- Standing portrait of woman identified by affixed paper label on mount recto as "Gaul's [sic] Wife." Possibly Martina Blue Earth, the widow of Iron Cloud, a friend of Gall's who had fallen in battle. The couple was married by Lakota custom before their November 1894 wedding in St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church on the Standing Rock Reservation. Martina was purportedly Gall's fourth wife, but his third wife, Stand-in Center, was commonly entered on Standing Rock records as his only wife (as furnished by consignor's notes obtained from Standing Rock enrollment lists). At Little Bighorn, Gall's first two wives and their three daughters were murdered in one of the first volleys fired by Major Marcus A. Reno's troops during his attack on the Hunkpapa village. Barry's Bismarck, D.T. imprint on verso. -- Studio portrait of "Gall & Nephew," as identified on mount below image. Gall is fully clothed, wearing a single feather in his hair and large cross-shaped pendant. Barry's West Superior, Wisconsin imprint on recto and verso.

Together, 3 cabinet photographs.

Chief Gall (ca 1840-1894) was famous for his military efforts in the wars against the US and for his participation in the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.

The Larry Ness Collection of Native American Photography

This lot is located in Cincinnati.

Condition Report

Contact Information

Auction Specialist

Search