Exploring Popular Early 20th c. Prints
Florida’s Hand-Colored Photography
By Michael Ivankovich

   Although the term “Early 20th c. Hand-Colored Photography” is typically associated with Wallace Nutting and the New England region of the country, two other areas of the United States also saw a considerable amount of hand-tinted photography...the Western U.S...and Florida. This column will focus on Florida’s Hand-Colored Photography and will focus upon seven photographers who did a considerable amount of work there.

WALLACE NUTTING (1861-1941): Since Wallace Nutting is considered by many as the Father of Early 20th c Hand-Colored Photography, we may as well start with him. Nutting lived in New England for most of his life but like many other photographers of his time he recognized the unspoiled beauty of early 20th c. Florida. Nutting took along his camera pretty much wherever he went so when he decided to take a warm weather Florida winter vacation, quite naturally he took his camera along.
   It didn’t take Nutting long to realize the potential of adding Florida photographs to his inventory because Florida seemed to fit Nutting’s commercial photographic formula of: 1) Unspoiled natural beauty   2) A location not readily accessible to most people...and... 3) A theme appealing to a broad audience.
   Nutting literally shot several hundred different Florida views with the intention of including them in his never-published “Florida Beautiful”. Between 1922-30 Nutting had published 10 volumes of his famous “States Beautiful” series which included 8 northern states ranging from Maine-to-Virginia as well as England and Ireland. Although he had released some early advertising promoting the pending release of the book, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression of the 1930's prevented Nutting from ever publishing Florida Beautiful  as the 11th book in his series. Actually fewer than 25 draft pages from this book were ever found in his files after his death in 1941.
   Most of Nutting’s Florida photographs included some form of sandy beach, palm trees, moss hanging from trees, and/or lakes, streams and rivers. Wallace Nutting’s Florida scenes were not necessarily a big seller. As far as we can tell he had no exclusive Florida sales outlets for these pictures and they seemingly got lost within his huge inventory of 10,000+ different available titles. As a result their rarity commands a relatively high price today, typically bringing $200-$400 for scenes in “very good” condition, with “very good” being defined as a grading of “4" out of a scale of “1-5".

FRED THOMPSON (1844-1923): Working out of Portland Maine, the Fred Thompson father-and-son team is generally regarded as #4 in the overall commercial production of hand-colored photographs, ranking only behind Nutting, Davidson, and Sawyer in total output. Most Thompson pictures were taken in and around Portland, in the surrounding Maine countryside, or in several other not-too-distant New England states.
   Like Nutting and many other photographers of the era, the Thompsons took their cameras wherever they went and Fred Thompson must have taken a camera on one or more Florida winter vacations. We can assume that Thompson spent some time in the St. Augustine area because we have seen several assorted St. Augustine titles. Other Thompson Florida titles are less location-specific but we do know that Thompson did produce a series of Florida Exterior scenes, often times featuring palm trees, and frequently in the Tomoka River region. And because Thompson Florida pictures are considered to be quite rare, one can assume that his pictures, like Nutting’s, were only sold up north as part of his general inventory rather than through sales outlets in Florida.
   Fred Thompson Florida pictures in very good condition will generally bring $75-$150.

WILLIAM JAMES HARRIS (1868-1940): As we reported in column #11; Harris sold his hand-colored photographs while working out of Lake Hopatcong, NJ in the summer months and St. Augustine FL in the winter months. Beginning in 1898 Harris became so entrenched in St. Augustine  during the winter months that he served as the Business Manager and Head Curator of the St. Augustine Historical Society for more than 30 years. Unlike Nutting and Thompson, who simply vacationed in Florida, Harris lived there for several months each year and while in Florida he operated a commercial Photography Shop in St. Augustine.
   And Harris’s Florida home provided him with both the time and opportunity to explore far beyond St. Augustine’s city limits. Most Harris Florida scenes seem to include palm trees and hanging moss, along with rivers, lakes and streams rather than beach or seascape scenes. The Bok Singing Tower and Bird Sanctuary, the Oldest School House, Charlotte Street, the Old Slave Quarters,  the City Gates, and Ft. Marion were among Harris’s best-selling pictures.
   Of course his photography shop provided him with a major outlet for selling his pictures directly to Florida vacationers. And arrangements with a series of other Florida Hotels and Gift Shops enabled him to sell his pictures to a large number of Florida tourists who often took them home as a memento of their Florida vacation. As a result many of Harris’s Florida scenes found their way back north. And it would be our opinion that Harris probably sold more hand-colored Florida  photographs to visiting tourists than any other early 20th c. photographer.
   Today Harris’s Florida scenes in very good condition typically sell in the $75-$150 range.

W.H. GARDINER (1961-1035): We’re not going to include a whole lot of detail here on W.H. Gardiner because we’re saving it up for a much larger future column of the W.H. Gardiner-H. Marshall Gardiner father-and-son photographic team. However we can tell you that William Henry Gardiner was born in Canada and moved to the United States at a very early age. A photographer for most of his life, he is perhaps best known for the hand-colored photographs that he took at Mackinac Island, Michigan. (FYI...Mackinac Island was the 2nd location to be designated as a U.S. National Park, with Yellowstone National Park being the first).
   Anyway, Gardiner wintered in Daytona, Florida for more than 20 years and while there he and his family operated a photography shop. While in Florida Gardiner was able to photograph both the Florida seaside and interior, selling the majority of his pictures to visiting tourists. Like Harris, we believe that Gardiner sold from both his own shop and through other Florida sales outlets, although we believe that Harris’s total Florida output was considerably higher than Gardiner’s.
   You should be aware that Gardiner’s Mackinac Island  and Florida hand-colored photographs are highly collectible and are very actively sought-after by a growing number of collectors. W.H. Gardiner Florida scenes had been bringing $75-$175 but they seem to have been rising even higher in recent months.

H. MARSHALL GARDINER (1884-1942): The son of W.H Gardiner, H. (Henry) Marshall Gardiner followed his father’s footsteps in the photography business. As mentioned above, although we are saving most of the details on the Gardiner father-son team for a future article, we’ll share a few of the details on H. Marshall Gardiner here.
   Along with his father and the rest of his family, H. Marshall Gardiner spent his early years summering in Mackinac Island, Michigan and, beginning in 1904, wintering in Daytona, Florida. Growing up in the photography business H. Marshall Gardiner learned many of the intricacies of the business from his father but eventually went his own way. In addition to Mackinac Island and Florida, H. Marshall Gardiner also extensively photographed Bermuda where he took many different scenes throughout the island, many of which he simply called “Bermuda”. He eventually ended up on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts where he extensively photographed a wide variety of scenes for use in his postcard and hand-colored photography business.
   When his father died in 1934, H. Marshall Gardiner took over his family’s Daytona photography business, remaining in Florida during the winter months and then returning to his Nantucket photography studio during the May-October tourist season.  He continued working both on Nantucket and in Florida until his own early death in 1942.
   Although H. Marshall Gardiner’s Florida hand-colored pictures generally don’t bring as much as his Nantucket scenes, they still usually bring strong prices if in good condition, with $100-$200 generally being the norm.

BARNHILL (1894-1959): This is another Florida hand-colored photographer we are just beginning to learn about so our background information is fairly sketchy. Born on March 4, 1894 in Saludi, South Carolina, E.G. Barnhill established his first photography business in St. Petersburg, Florida during 1913 at the age of 19. Specializing in postcards and greeting cards, his photography business remained relatively small and he basically photographed, published, hand-colored, and distributed most of his work himself. His earliest postcards were printed in Germany but in later years the Albertype Company of New York printed most of his postcards.
   Barnhill soon expanded into selling hand-colored landscape photographs taken in-and-around St. Petersburg, and eventually moving further into the Florida countryside. All Barnhill views that we have seen are Florida landscapes, some measuring as small as 2x3", other measuring as large as 11x14". Some Barnhill pictures are mounted on a signed/titled matboard, very similar to the other major photographers. However, most Barnhill images we’ve seen have been either unframed or close-framed in newer frames. Our guess is that a large number of Barnhill’s original unsold inventory has surfaced somewhere fairly recently and is slowly being released into today’s marketplace.
   Apparently Barnhill had always been interested in the culture of the American Indian. At some point he met with Edward S. Curtis, the famous photographer of the American West when he was in his late teens. While working with Curtis, Barnhill learned the delicate “goldtoning” photographic process using uranium dyes. Barnhill experimented with this process from 1914 until the mid 1920's and is quite apparent in the color-schemes used on a large number of his pictures.
   During World War II Barnhill established an Indian Trading Post at the Wisconsin Dells which he operated in the summer months until 1959. Several years later he opened “The Indian Springs Museum”.
   Mr. Barnhill died in 1987 at the age of 93. Based upon our experience the Barnhill market has been fairly limited. Over the past year we have seen Barnhill prices increase from the $10-$50 range to as high as $50-$125 today. In our opinion Barnhill collectors are what we would call a “small-but-growing” group.

SUNSENE HAND-COLORED PHOTOS: We don’t know much about Sunsene other than we have seen their name on a variety of  Florida hand-colored photographs. The most common view we have seen is the world famous Bok Singing Tower and Bird Sanctuary which had been dedicated by Edward William Bok to the state of Florida in 1929. Some views simply include The Singing Tower while other views include a different angle of The Singing Tower with pink storks or other birds standing in the forefront. Our guess is that most Sunsene photos were sold through Florida Gift Shops primarily to visiting tourists.
   Most Sunsene hand-colored photographs can be identified by the “Sunsene Hand Colored” marking which usually appears in the lower right portion of the photograph. These are some of the least collectible Florida hand-colored photographs but they are still quite affordable usually selling in the $25-$50 range.

PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWNS: This category is reserved for those hand-colored photographs that are unsigned and not directly attributable to any specific photographer. The theme of these photographs is similar to all of the other photographers...palm trees, mossy trees, sandy beaches, blue water, and The Singing Tower. Although some were produced for commercial purposes, many were also produced by amateur photographers and were not widely circulated. Value depends primarily upon the subject matter and condition. These are still relatively affordable, usually selling for between $10-$50.

We hope you find this information helpful. If we have missed any important photographers who had been selling Florida hand-colored photography, or if you have any more detailed background information on any of the Florida photographers we included within this column, please share it with us and we’ll pass it along to our readers .

REPRESENTATIVE AUCTION PRICES

To help you to better stay in touch with current Auction Prices in the early 20th c. Hand-Colored Photography and Print Market, here is a representative sampling of some actual Auction Prices realized in our March 9th-10th Auction which was held in Ft. Washington, PA. After receiving numerous requests for this service we will try to include such prices in most future column. All prices include the 10% Buyer’s Premium.

Bessie Pease Gutmann - Rosebud - $302
William Henry Chandler - Original Seascape Pastel - $517
David Davidson - Outward Bound - $171
Charles Higgins - Locomotive Train - $105
Fred Thompson - Homeward Bound - $248
Harrison Fisher - Dolly - $66
Maxfield Parrish - The Millpond - $242
R Atkinson Fox - The Answering Call - $88
Philip Broileau - Girl in Red Scarf - $110
Standley - Spanish Patio, Mission Inn - $61
Wallace Nutting - The Bennington Jar - $1430
Wallace Nutting Furniture - #305 Bent Rung Windsor Side Chair - $742

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Ivankovich is a collector, author, dealer and auctioneer specializing in early 20th century hand-colored photography and prints. His Auction Company conducts 3-4 Live Catalog Auctions per year in this field. E-Mail questions or inquiries can be directed to Michael at: ivankovich@wnutting.com or you can write to: P.O. Box 1536, Doylestown, PA 18901. If you would like a reply, you must include a self-address-stamped- envelope. You can learn about his next live Catalog Auction at: www.wnutting.com/upcoming.htm