Description:

Rare American Cased Sixth-Plate Daguerreotype of Judah P. Benjamin, c. 1847, probably Louisiana, gilt-tooled, embossed faux-leather case Note: Often referred to as “the brains of the Confederacy”, Judah P. Benjamin served as Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State to the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865. Born in the Virgin Islands, Benjamin immigrated with his family to Charleston, SC, where his father helped found the nation’s first Jewish Reform congregation. From a young age, Benjamin showed great talent and at the age of 14 enrolled in Yale University, where he studied law. Eventually, Benjamin returned to the South and settled in Louisiana, where he began a career as a prosperous attorney and later a US Senator. The photograph presented here is believed to be the earliest known photograph, and only known daguerreotype, of Judah P. Benjamin. By repute, the image was taken in the late 1840s, when Benjamin had settled in Louisiana and had begun his legal practice prior to his illustrious career in politics. Benjamin became the confidante of Jefferson Davis and architect of the Confederacy. Remarkably, Benjamin emerged unscathed and built a second career as a British barrister. Ref.: Evans, Eli N. Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate. New York: Free Press, 1989; Meade, Robert Douthat. Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate Statesman. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001.

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September 12, 2015 10:00 AM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US

Neal Auction Company

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $9,999 $250
$10,000 $49,999 $500
$50,000 $999,999 $5,000
$1,000,000 $1,999,999 $10,000
$2,000,000 $2,999,999 $15,000
$3,000,000 + $20,000