RARE – William H. Rau orig. photo – 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair OFFICAL PHOTO

Description

WHEN VIEWING THE PHOTOS, THE WATERMARK: "YOURFAVORITEALIEN" IS NOT ON THE ACTUAL ITEM.
Up for sale is an extremely rare OFFICAL photo from the 1904 St. Louis World’s fair taken by William H. Rau. He was the official photographer for the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. This photo is possibly the one that was meant to be representative of the opening of the Fair because as you can see in the picture, it is a very large crowd, and this photo is not in the official portfolio book of Fair photos. The photo print is mounted to an Official Fair mounting cardboard/wood fiber-type material and bears the debossed official logo of the 1904 Fair at the bottom center. This 14.5” x 27.5” photo comes with the original print, frame (NO GLASS), and original backing boards which were found on the back of the framed photo.
It does have 1 large and several smaller scratches and spots, and evidence of flood damage on the left side of the matte which are shown in the photos
, but they don’t significant detract from the photo in my opinion. THIS ITEM IS THEREFORE BEING SOLD “AS-IS”. There is pencil writing on the back from the framer, who was possibly at the fair or somewhere else. The .50 marked on the back may have been the cost for the mounted print at the fair, I don’t know. The photo resolution is simply incredible. Looking at this photo up close is like going back in time. I called Wes Cowan’s Auction house from Antiques Roadshow and was informed that it can be restored for 0-300. It was found in an old estate not far from St. Louis and the mounting board/matte shows a water mark from an obvious flooding situation no doubt many, many years ago, but this does not reach or affect the photograph.
This item is being sold AS-IS
. After researching William H. Rau, many of the extant prints of his work are in museum collections.
Shipping and insurance is as follows:  THERE IS NO GLASS - JUST THE PHOTO AND FRAME ARE INCLUDED. The print will remain flat. Shipping to the lower 48 states will be . If actual shipping and insurance ends up being less, a refund of the difference will be provided.