1856 portrait of New York's first licensed Black lawyer sold for $230,400
A 170-year-old daguerreotype portrait, previously sold for under $1,000 as an unidentified man, was resold for $230,400 after being identified as George Boyer Vashon, New York's first licensed Black lawyer. The discovery was made by a specialist who found a photographer's signature and an inscription inside the case.
Why it matters
The identification of this portrait restores a significant piece of American civil rights history and demonstrates the high market value of historical provenance.
A photograph that sold for just $882 at a New York auction last year has fetched $230,400 a year later after experts discovered the identity of the man pictured in it. The 170-year-old image, which had been listed as a portrait of an unknown man wearing spectacles, was identified as a photograph of George Boyer Vashon, the first licensed African American lawyer in New York State. The discovery also revealed that the photograph had been taken in 1856 by Philip Haas, a 19th-century photographer.The portrait originally offered by Christie's as part of the Maillet Daguerreotype Collection was described as "A well-dressed man with spectacles", and neither the person pictured nor the photographer was named.
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