1895 Elmer Chickering Amos A Lawrence Signed Photo Cabinet Card CDV Abolitionist For Sale

For your consideration is an exceptionally fine original 1895 cabinet-card portrait of Amos A. Lawrence of Cohasset, Massachusetts, photographed by Elmer Chickering at his Royal Studio, 21 West Street, Boston. Measuring approximately 4.25 by 6.5 inches, the portrait presents Lawrence in formal dress and bears a manuscript identification along the lower mount reading Amos A. Lawrence Cohasset, with the additional notation House of 95.

Amos A. Lawrence, born 3 November 1847 in Cohasset, was a Massachusetts merchant and public official who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1892 and again in 1895. The House of 95 inscription therefore directly corresponds to his legislative service and identifies the card as a presentation or commemorative portrait associated with the 1895 Massachusetts General Court. This is a different individual from the better-known Amos Adams Lawrence (18141886).

The reverse bears Chickerings elaborate The Royal Studio backmark, naming Elmer Chickering, Proprietor, 21 West St., Boston, together with the studios award at the Seventeenth Exhibition of 1890. This firmly supports a mid-1890s date and is fully consistent with the sitters 1895 legislative service. Chickering was one of Bostons leading portrait photographers of the period, known for formal portraits of public figures, performers, and prominent New Englanders.

Preserved in attractive original condition with light age-related toning and handling, the cabinet card retains its full studio mount, manuscript identification, and richly printed verso. As a signed and inscribed 1895 portrait of Massachusetts Representative Amos A. Lawrence of Cohasset, explicitly marked House of 95, by Elmer Chickering, it is a strong piece of Massachusetts political, photographic, and legislative history.