Anonymous American Photographer

sixth-plate daguerreotype, with a modern seal, in a half-case, framed, the Buhl Collection label on the reverse, 1840s

The Collection of Stanley Yalkowsky, New York

Sotheby's New York, 5 October 1995, Sale 6747, Lot 39

Charles Isaacs, Inc., Malvern, Pennsylvania, 1997

New York, Guggenheim Museum, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection, June - September 2004, and 4 other international venues through 2007 (see Appendix 1)

West Palm Beach, Norton Museum of Art, A Show of Hands: Photographs and Sculpture from the Buhl Collection, January - March 2008

Seoul, South Korea, Daelim Contemporary Art Museum, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection (Asian tour), March - May 2009, and 2 other Asian venues through 2011 (see Appendix 1)

Jennifer Blessing, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection (Guggenheim Foundation, 2004), pp. 171 and 252 (this daguerreotype)

This fascinating daguerreotype is in essentially excellent condition. When examined very closely, some very minor sporadic abrasion can be seen on the image adjacent to the mat, and likely caused by the mat rubbing against the unsecured plate. The plate is now firmly secured with a modern Filmoplast seal.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

An interesting comparison to this image is another daguerreotype, in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, by John Adams Whipple, in which a hypnotist or healer is shown with four subjects (The Waking Dream, pl. 88). 

The daguerreotype offered here, the above-mentioned Whipple, and the ambrotype presented here as Lot 136, are notable for their attempts at capturing the fundamentally unphotographable: the psychic abilities of the practitioner, and the transcendent mental states of his subjects.