c1900 Vermont Bicycle Cabinet Card Austin Pierce Montpelier VT Photographer For Sale

Original antique cabinet-card-size photograph showing a smartly dressed young man posed with his early safety bicycle, circa 1895–1905.The rider wears a straw boater hat, jacket, knickerbockers and high cycling boots. His diamond-frame bicycle features equal-sized wheels, chain drive, straight handlebars and a leather tool or accessory bag behind the saddle. The remarkable outdoor setting appears to be a Vermont quarry or stone yard, with stacked stone and a long wooden ladder visible behind him.The reverse bears a period pencil inscription that appears to read “Austin Pierce” and is stamped:Arthur N. Stratton
Amateur Photographer
Montpelier, VTThe safety bicycle replaced the dangerous high-wheeler and helped create America’s enormous cycling boom during the 1890s. This exceptionally clear outdoor portrait captures the bicycle, the rider’s period clothing and the working Vermont landscape in wonderful detail.Original period photograph—not a reproduction.CONDITION:Good antique condition with expected surface wear, mount wear, softened corners and a small area of image loss near the lower-right portion of the front wheel. Pencil inscription is faint but legible. Please examine all photographs carefully for condition and measurements.A striking piece of early Vermont cycling, transportation, occupational and photographic history.

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