12th May, 2026 11:00
Photographs, Optical Toys & Science
Miniature Photographic Formats
Small group comprising of various miniature photographic formats.
A sheet (185x117mm), containing 24 photo-button images with plastic protective cover. Pencil inscription on verso reads,"1st Sample. Made by Electric Light-Day of the Great Snow Storm. Chicago Dec 98". (Excellent condition).
A small album containing 33 gem, tintype portraits. (Album loose).
Provenance: The John Randall Plummer Collection
John Randall Plummer is a collector of photography whose interest in the medium began in 1973. Working in close collaboration with his associate, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, Plummer assembled an important and wide-ranging collection that reflected both scholarly depth and a refined aesthetic sensibility.
The collection achieved international recognition in 1983 with the landmark exhibition Particulars: Selections from the Miller-Plummer Collection of Photography, organised by the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Curated by Robert A. Sobieszek, Director of Photographic Collections, the exhibition subsequently travelled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Wellesley College Museum, further cementing the collection’s reputation.
A publication accompanying the exhibition, also titled Particulars, was issued in 1983 and remains an important reference work, highlighting the intellectual and visual coherence of the collection.
In October 2009, the Miller-Plummer Collection was dispersed at auction by Christie’s, New York, achieving a total just under $2 million—an indication of both its quality and the esteem in which it was held.
Beyond his role as a collector, Plummer has been actively involved in the institutional world of art and photography. He has served as a trustee of the George Eastman House, the Museum of American Folk Art in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and The Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia. He was also a member of the Prints, Drawings and Photographs Acquisition Committee at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Today, works from the John Randall Plummer Collection reflect a sustained engagement with the history of photography.
Small group comprising of various miniature photographic formats.
A sheet (185x117mm), containing 24 photo-button images with plastic protective cover. Pencil inscription on verso reads,"1st Sample. Made by Electric Light-Day of the Great Snow Storm. Chicago Dec 98". (Excellent condition).
A small album containing 33 gem, tintype portraits. (Album loose).
Provenance: The John Randall Plummer Collection
John Randall Plummer is a collector of photography whose interest in the medium began in 1973. Working in close collaboration with his associate, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, Plummer assembled an important and wide-ranging collection that reflected both scholarly depth and a refined aesthetic sensibility.
The collection achieved international recognition in 1983 with the landmark exhibition Particulars: Selections from the Miller-Plummer Collection of Photography, organised by the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Curated by Robert A. Sobieszek, Director of Photographic Collections, the exhibition subsequently travelled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Wellesley College Museum, further cementing the collection’s reputation.
A publication accompanying the exhibition, also titled Particulars, was issued in 1983 and remains an important reference work, highlighting the intellectual and visual coherence of the collection.
In October 2009, the Miller-Plummer Collection was dispersed at auction by Christie’s, New York, achieving a total just under $2 million—an indication of both its quality and the esteem in which it was held.
Beyond his role as a collector, Plummer has been actively involved in the institutional world of art and photography. He has served as a trustee of the George Eastman House, the Museum of American Folk Art in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and The Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia. He was also a member of the Prints, Drawings and Photographs Acquisition Committee at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Today, works from the John Randall Plummer Collection reflect a sustained engagement with the history of photography.
Auction: Photographs, Optical Toys & Science, 12th May, 2026
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