315 - Vintage c. 1870s Schreiber & Sons Albumen Print – "The Last Load" Rural Horse & Hay Wagon Cabinet Card.

Vintage c. 1870s Schreiber & Sons Albumen Print – "The Last Load" Rural Horse & Hay Wagon Cabinet Card. Original vintage late 19th-century sepia-toned albumen photograph mounted on its original oversized cardstock cabinet board, dating to circa the 1870s or early 1880s [image_ajt7fH.png]. The idyllic, beautifully detailed rural scene documents nineteenth-century American agricultural technology, framing a massive, overflowing wooden hay wagon pulled by a team of four powerful draft horses. Two farmhands stand balanced atop the towering mound of loose hay with their pitchforks, while a driver sits up on the front rigging and a traditional rustic barn structure stands nestled beneath shade trees in the background. The lower border of the original mounting card features elegant, red typographic letterpress lithography that provides official studio attribution, title, and location. The lower left reads "SCHREIBER & SON,", the lower center reads "THE LAST LOAD.", and the lower right displays "PHILADELPHIA.". The reverse of the thick mounting card remains completely blank and unmounted. Operating out of Philadelphia during the post-Civil War era, Schreiber & Sons (founded by Francis Schreiber along with his sons George, Henry, and Frank) were widely celebrated as America's preeminent pioneering masters of animal, livestock, and agricultural photography. While most mid-19th-century photographers struggled with slow chemical exposure times that limited them to indoor studio portraits, the Schreibers engineered specialized outdoor techniques to sharply capture working animals and active farm infrastructure in motion. Their exquisite landscape and livestock studies won high praise at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. This pristine specimen, titled "The Last Load," beautifully captures the absolute texture of the loose hay, the fine leather strap harness details on the draft horses, and the heavy iron-rimmed wood spoke wheels of the wagon, standing as a premier visual record of traditional Gilded Age farming culture. Preserved in very good vintage condition, retaining a soft, rich warm sepia tone patina and crisp text lines with only typical light age-toning and minor spot foxing along the wide margins of the mounting card. Dimensions approximately 9.5" x 6" (overall mount size). THIS IS A RESERVE AUCTION, and the final price will include a Buyer’s Premium. Please, view our full terms and conditions. ARTELISTED IS LICENSED IN THE US STATES OF FLORIDA AND TEXAS. All the items purchased through Artelisted must be shipped. We no longer offer or accept local pick-ups for any sold lots. The shipment will be made directly by Artelisted. Shipping insurance is the responsibility of the buyer. Ask us if you want to add insurance cost. Note that if there is loss or damage due to bad handling by the transporter, this loss will be assumed only by the buyer. We mainly ship via USPS Ground Advantage, UPS and Fedex International. If you do not pay during the 48 hrs after the end of the event, your credit card on file will be charged 2 days after the auction. All items must be paid in full within five (5) days of the sale date. Any lots remaining unpaid after the 5-day period will be considered and reported in default. The unpaid items may be re-sold at Artelisted sole discretion and without further notice to the original bidder. Items returned to our facility after shipping (for any reason, including undeliverable addresses or refused delivery) will be held for a maximum of thirty (30) days. To have a returned item shipped again, the buyer must pay all new shipping and handling fees. If re-shipping fees are not paid within the 30-day holding period, the items will be considered forfeited. In such cases, no refunds will be issued, and the items may be re-sold at the auction house's discretion. We have included quality images showing its current condition. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.