Andrew Joseph Russell

albumen print, mounted, pencil inscription on the mount, framed, 1869

As can be seen from the catalogue illustration, this print is faded overall. Judging this albumen print on a scale of one to 10 – a 10 being an albumen print that has rich chocolate-colored dark tones and highlights that retain their original detail – this print rates a 6. There is a faint darkened area in the print above the rightmost stack, likely due to contact with an old wood frame backboard. When the print is viewed in raking light, a semicircular loss can be seen in the central sky area in which the print's paper base shows through; there are radiating scuff marks surrounding it. There is a smaller loss on the upper left edge. The mount measures 12 1/8 by 15 1/8 in. It is age darkened, especially along the outer edge.
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.

The print offered here, Andrew J. Russell's iconic image of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, is one of very few surviving full-negative versions of the photograph extant.  A recent direct comparison with Russell's original negative, now in the collection of the Oakland Museum of California, reveals that the print offered here is a contact print made from the full 10-by-13-inch glass negative before it was cracked in several places.  As of this writing, only two other early full-frame albumen prints of this image have been located: at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and one sold in these rooms on 26 April 1990 (Sale  6004, Lot 35A).

This photograph is the most famous of all of Russell's views of the construction of the transcontinental railroad, and represents the celebratory moment when the East and West portions of the line were finally joined on 10 May 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah.  Russell, who had worked as a photographer for the Military Railroad Construction Corps during the Civil War, was hired by the Union Pacific's Western Division to document the creation of the line that would unite the eastern and western extremes of the American continent.  The Union Pacific Railroad Company was responsible for the line traveling westward from Omaha, Nebraska; the Central Pacific laid track eastward from San Francisco.  Russell photographed the construction, completed work, and trackside towns and scenery with a camera of his own invention, yielding glass-plate negatives measuring 10 by 13 inches, as well as with a stereo camera.  The present image serves simultaneously as a document of the completion of the railroad line and, more symbolically, of America's consolidation of the vast distance between its eastern and western population centers.