It was an ordinary day. Trying to find some information on a photography studio that was in the city of Lancaster in the early 1870s. Studio was called Good, Berner & Bro., GILDERS. Finally found some information after "Googling" about 10 or so pages of possible links to the studio. Located at No. 45 North Queen Street and specialized in: All styles of Frames on hand or made to order, and old Frames re-gilded. WALNUT and GILT CORNICES. MOULDINGS of all kinds and the largest stock of LOOKING GLASSES varying at prices from 20 cts. to $500.00. Sounds much like the place where I now work part-time matting and framing just about anything that comes through the door. Only thing we don't do is the gilding which is applying gold leaf or gold paint to frames to give them a superficially attractive appearance. Costly procedure and sometimes looks very gaudy, hence the phrase "Gilding the Lily." Reason I was trying to find out about the place was because I read an article in the local newspaper about a collage of photos of baseball great Honus Wagner which was found on eBay with an asking price of $100,000.000. Wagner was
known as "The Flying Dutchman" and one of the best professional baseball players of all time and therefore making most anything with his photo or name on it valuable. On the rear of the collage was a drawing of an angel holding a camera and wrapped in a scroll that read, "Good Berners & Lant, 45 N. Queen St. Lancaster, Pa." It seems that William Lant joined with Jonathan Good and Louis and Otto Berner in the business on N. Queen Street. The four men were all born in the 1940s and were mentioned in the 1880 census for the city of Lancaster. There were many lensmen (photographers) who had studios in the city of Lancaster during this time period including W.W. Amos, A.M. Lease and B. Frank Saylor. And, all the rage at the time was Stereoscopic photographs which are side by side or multiple exposure photography to suggest three-dimensional space. It was the speciality of Good Berners & Lant and one of their shots featured the funeral of Abraham Lincoln in New York in 1865. That stereoscopic card is currently listed for sale online. But, how did Honus Wagner manage
to have his photo taken by this studio? He was born in 1874 in Pittsburgh, PA and photographers of the era were known to travel in wagons which carried their cameras, plates and developers. Could they have traveled to Pittsburgh at some time and have taken Wagner posing as a rookie church-league ballplayer? The $100,000.00 price tag on the eBay collage is a bargain if it really is Wagner, since a 1909 baseball card of him was auctioned not long ago for $2.1 million. The owner and seller of the collage, a "Doc Timetravel," says he bought the collage at a Pennsylvania flea market for $5. The seller does not supply any validation that it is real and leaves that up to whomever may want to buy it. He says he isn't trying to deceive anyone, it is up to the purchaser to decide if they want to pay his price. The card that sold for $2.1 million was a "tobacco" card, meaning it was made by a tobacco company and Wagner had them stop printing them after very few were made, since he was so much against smoking. "Doc Timetravel" claims if his collage is actually Wagner, it is as rare as the "tobacco" cards that bear Wagner's photo. It will be interesting to find out if the collage is authentic if it is sold and can be documented. Certainly the $100,000.00 will seem like a bargain to the buyer. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
 |
| This is a stereoview card of the interior of a photo studio in Lancaster, PA. The back of the stereoview is printed with the name "Good Berners & Lant." |
 |
| Stereoview card showing Lincoln's Funeral in N.Y. On the back is printed "Good Berners & Lant, No. 45 N. Queen St., Lancaster, PA |
No comments:
Post a Comment