Lot 487
Watkins, Carleton E. Seven Photographs From the George Davidson Collection. Photographs taken by Watkins during survey expeditions: "Yolo Baseline 1881," 9½x13½" (names are penciled along edges); "Portrait of George Davidson," 11x14"; "Lawson's Camp / San Luis Obispo," 5½x8½"; three different shots of "Los Angeles Plains - Coast Survey Camp 1889," 7¼x9¼"; "Coast Survey party in the field summer 1890," 11x14". Each photograph is matted to 16x20". Watkins (1829-1916) was one of California's early commercial photographers. He was hired in 1879 to work for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, headed by Davidson. Measurements of the Yolo and Los Angeles Base Lines were those upon which all distances in the extensive triangulation of the State of California depended. Watkins gathered most of his photograph in his Market St. studio for an exhibition and sale; the studio and his works were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. These photos were given to Davidson in 1901 and 1902.
Estimated Value $600 - 800.
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| Realized $719 |
