Lot of 2 CDVs of sailors wearing the standard navy jumper and usual flat cap. Uncredited: n.d. The first portrait is a former dead letter CDV of an older sailor with whimsical chin whiskers and cap tally that reads
"USS Powhatan." Early in the war
Powhatan commenced the blockade of Mobile and the southwest pass of the Mississippi, taking several prizes while on station. She later cruised off Charleston capturing another two blockade runners before joining the West Indies Squadron as flagship. Near the end of the war
Powhatan participated in the bombardment and reduction of Fort Fisher in December 1864 and its ultimate capture in January 1865. The cap tally on the second sailor is not visible but he does wear a Bosun's whistle affixed to a cord around his neck. Image is possibly post war.
The Richard B. Cohen Civil War Collection Lots 37, 69-98, 295 Cowan's enthusiastically presents the second installment of collector Richard B. Cohen's matchless archive of Civil War Brown Water Navy photography. Richard was known to many in the field - indeed some of these images may resonate from a bygone transaction or "show and tell' - but to those who knew him best he'll be remembered as a "disciplined collector who maintained a relatively narrow focus having built an important, perhaps unsurpassed collection in his area of specialization." This catalogued portion of the core collection is a seamless continuation of high quality photography highlighted by an array of Brown Water Navy warships in desirable carte-de-visite format. We counted no fewer than 22 different Mississippi River vessels, some battle-weary and familiar, others obscure, but all identified with many named in period ink. Research confirmed that several of these CDVs were signed by an officer who had served aboard the ship conveying the historic connection and spirit of "wooden ships and iron men." The last of the larger format albumen warships are also included - the USS Blackhawk, Eastport, and Louisville. A fine quartet of lots feature sought-after enlisted sailors. We proceed with eight additional lots of multiple identified officer cartes, the myriad of navy rank insignia during the Civil War both complex and instructive. We think it opportune to quote a comment from a previous buyer who emailed that, "...I draw inspiration from their BWN service when known, and when not offering (him) the opportunity to reconstruct an aspect of overlooked Civil War naval history." Now comes the time to further disperse Richard B. Cohen's collection and recycle the photography to the care of the next generation, and in so doing we salute a lifelong endeavor unlikely ever to be duplicated.
Provenence: The Richard B. Cohen Civil War Collection
Condition
Powhattan CDV damaged, missing piece of mount lower left while showing the usual pinholes common to dead letter cartes. Mount with heavy brown toning. Albumen shows strong clarity, G. Bosun image with somewhat soft clarity. Uniformly rounded corners on mount were originally made that way, VG.