Bear Shield - Blackfoot - 1878 - photographer?

[sunparrot]

The original photographer for this image is T.G.N. Anderton. Has this photograph ever been mounted on a white cabinet card mount marked Winter / Fotografer [sic.] / Eugene, Oregon? I may have just purchased a fake. The left edge has been trimmed so that it fits on the card mount; if I hadn't seen the original photo in archives I never would have known it had been trimmed. There is a red coloring to the edge of all four sides, which, if a fake, may be where the seller marked where to cut to make the photo fit.  Any information anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[ephriam]

This is probably the mount of John A. Winter, a photographer who was active in Eugene, Oregon, from the Civil War up through at least 1900. I am not aware of any Indian photographs, especially any of the Cypress Hills views, reprinted by Winter.

Unfortunately, there are several sellers on Ebay who openly sell fake Indian photographs remounted on to historic mounts. If you have not yet posted a comment on their ebay account for your purchase, you can go in and warn others to beware of their fakes. Sorry that you had this experience.

[almont]

In either event, this man is not a Lakota Blackfoot, but a Blood or Piegan Blackfoot. It is a well known image.
almont.

[rory]

Bear Shield, Blackfoot warrior, Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan. 1878-1879. Photographed by George Anderton


As a researcher and consultant of 19c. first nations images I have access to an original of the image. This example is from the Dr. Frost collection. The image area of an original measures 3.5"x4.75", and the full size of the paper is 4x6". The paper used by Anderton feels the same as standard magazine paper in texture and gloss, the originals are albumen process photographs. The image size of the originals should be the same due to the direct contact method used to develop prints, enlargements were popular in the 19c. too but not common. I suggest evaluating the process used to produce the photograph by a professional, there are many original photos pasted to cards of photographs who bought out their competitions stock or copied images during the 19c. The image of Sitting Bull included was sold by Anderton, but is a copy of an image by Goff. Even ambrotype and daguerreotype photographs were re-photographed in order to make copies of popular images. If you have a photographed copy there may be artifacts of dust of surface imperfections that appear on the copy photo. I always assume that an image that seems wrong is a fake, but I have learned long ago evaluate each photo individually with an expert eye, get access to originals, its really the only way to go. Famous images, like the photo of Bearsheild, have been glued onto original old cards and fakes since the 50's, this example from the Dr.Frost collection has been copied for the production of postcards since the 80's and is very likely used to produce fakes and reproductions.
Kind regards,
Rory