Relics of the American West: 1850-1920
Lot 2217:
Description
This historically significant six-piece archive centers around the legendary 19th-century Western performer and sideshow sharpshooter “Lone Star Harry.” The crown jewel of the collection is an original sixth-plate tintype portrait of Lone Star Harry himself, captured in a striking wide-brimmed hat and housed in its original ornate, embossed geometric thermoplastic Union case with a gilded inner mat. Born circa 1855 near present-day Eagle Pass, Texas, Harry began his frontier career as a cowboy at age 14, working on Captain Richard King’s famed Nueces River ranching operations and spearheading a massive 3,500-head cattle drive to Nebraska in 1882. His tracking acumen later caught the attention of General George Crook, leading to a 12-year stint as a U.S. Army scout—primarily operating in the Cherokee Strip. Transitioning into show business, he managed Native American performers before rising to fame as a premier trick shooter. Between 1890 and 1893, he toured with prominent Wild West productions alongside Pawnee Bill and Wichita Jack, culminating in winning medals at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Famous for his combat advice to “always stand sideways” so the left arm protects the heart, Harry became a celebrated fixture on the dime museum circuit.
Accompanying the rare tintype is an 1890s cabinet card photograph depicting Dr. Augusta Solomon’s medicinal or traveling show tent display, with Lone Star Harry standing on the far right alongside three Native American performers in full headdresses. The archive includes three vital documents from the Wonderland Musee and Parlor Theatre of Utica, New York: a December 18, 1893 poster advertising Count Ivan Orloff (“The Living Transparent Ossified Man”), Lone Star Harry, and Del Fuego (“The King of Fire”); a January 15, 1894 program sheet detailing acts like Hillard (the bone dislocator), Sig. Lawanda (“The Iron Jawed Man”), and Prof. Rockerfellow’s wax exhibits; and a multi-page January 15, 1894 Wonderland newsletter/courier sheet. Completing the lot is a highly detailed, double-sided Globe Museum Bowery handbill dated Monday, December 3, 1894, highlighting French Rose (“The Bearded Beauty”), Henry Thompson (“Greatest Walker on Earth”), C.A. Bonney (“Musical Albino”), Doña Marina (“Mexico’s Queen of the Rifle”), and Lone Star Harry.
In protective sleeves, the paper elements exhibit expected historical wear: the 1893 Wonderland poster and the fragile Globe Museum handbill are both folded in half with creasing and margin chipping; the multi-page newsletter shows edge toning and minor paperclip rust stains; the cabinet card photo is heavily distressed with multiple severe horizontal creases, breaks, foxing, and heavy silvering; the tintype remains in very good condition with light surface wear, while its thermoplastic case has minor rubbing to the corners and edges. Tintype Case: H 3.75″, W 3.25″, D 0.5″; Cabinet Card: H 7.5″, W 10″, D 0.1″; 1893 Poster (Unfolded): H 18.5″, W 6.25″, D 0.01″; 1894 Program: H 9.25″, W 5.75″, D 0.01″; Newsletter: H 12.5″, W 9.5″, D 0.05″; Globe Museum Bill (Unfolded): H 21″, W 6.5″, D 0.01″
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