https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com Sun, 05 Jul 2026 04:02:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2025/04/carleton-watkins-view-from-california-st-hill-san-francisco-cabinet-card-3733/ https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2025/04/carleton-watkins-view-from-california-st-hill-san-francisco-cabinet-card-3733/#comments Sat, 12 Apr 2025 13:51:51 +0000 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2025/04/carleton-watkins-view-from-california-st-hill-san-francisco-cabinet-card-3733/








VIEW from CALIFORNIA ST HILL. BEST OFFERS CONSIDERED – This photograph comes from my father’s photo collection. It is priced high because I’m not sure of its value. I see hardly any other Watkins photographs for sale online as they are an even hotter commodity these days than in the old days…

]]> https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2025/04/carleton-watkins-view-from-california-st-hill-san-francisco-cabinet-card-3733/feed/ 0 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2024/04/carleton-watkins-boudoir-photo-of-the-hotel-del-monte-monterrey-ca-c1880-90s/ https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2024/04/carleton-watkins-boudoir-photo-of-the-hotel-del-monte-monterrey-ca-c1880-90s/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:47:47 +0000 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2024/04/carleton-watkins-boudoir-photo-of-the-hotel-del-monte-monterrey-ca-c1880-90s/


Here is an interesting view of The Hotel Del Monte in Monterrey California by renowned photographer Carleton Watkins. The image shows the hotel in the distance and through the trees. The Hotel Del Monte was a large resort hotel in Monterey, California, from its opening in 1880 until 1942. It was one of the finest luxury hotels in North America. Charles Crocker, one of California’s Big Four railroad barons, established the resort through Southern Pacific Railroad’s property division, Pacific Improvement Company, and opened the first hotel June 10, 1880. The first true resort complex in the United States, it was an immediate success. Nearby, along Monterey Bay, was a railroad depot. During World War II, it closed and the building was leased to the Navy. After a stint in Huntington’s store in Sacramento, Watkins moved to San Francisco, where he chanced into an apprenticeship with the daguerreotypist Robert Vance. By 1858, Watkins had established an independent practice, photographing mining operations and land claims for financiers who were building their careers in the lap of the new state. 5 ½” x 8 ½”. Clean image, mild edge wear on the mount. The free listing tool.

]]> https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2024/04/carleton-watkins-boudoir-photo-of-the-hotel-del-monte-monterrey-ca-c1880-90s/feed/ 0 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2024/02/1876-carleton-watkins-view-of-court-palace-hotel-san-francisco-taber-mount/ https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2024/02/1876-carleton-watkins-view-of-court-palace-hotel-san-francisco-taber-mount/#comments Wed, 07 Feb 2024 00:54:44 +0000 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2024/02/1876-carleton-watkins-view-of-court-palace-hotel-san-francisco-taber-mount/



1876 Carleton Watkins View of Court Palace Hotel, San Francisco, Taber Mount 8 x 7/8. Taber Publisher, San Francisco, California. Court, Palace Hotel, S. Printing out paper on remnant of plain mount. 8 x 4 7/8 inches. 8 3/8 x 5 1/4 inches. Rich tonal image, light rubbing/aging, mount is trimmed with loss at corners/edges and has been removed from larger mount at some point. Uncommon Carelton Watkins early view showing the court if the newly opened Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. Erected by banker William Chapman Ralston, this opulent gift to the city was completed and opened two months after his untimely death following the collaps of his economic empire. This image, which is usually found as a stereoview, shows the less common restaurant end of the courtyard while most views show the carriage entrance. Watkins applied his “majestic” eye to this cavernous seven story atrium with all the visual acuity that he applied to his views of nature. In the foreground at the bottom of the image is the tip of a carriage arriving with a slightly blurred horse head. The opulent building and interior was said to rival the most magnificent of European hotels and remained an important landmark and destination until its demise during the great earthquake of 1906. It was later replaced with a smaller, scaled down version. He created a remarkable documentation of this natural wonder leading to its designation as a National Park. Isaiah West Taber was another San Francisco institution opening his own studio there in 1871 and somewhat the better business man than his contemporary Carleton Watkins. Acquiring Watkins’ print and negative stock following the photographer’s bankruptcy in 1881, he managed to successfully sell many of Watkins’ early views of the west and California with his own studio credit, rarely if ever crediting Watkins. Ironically, when the 1906 earthquake struck, it also destroyed Taber’s own negative and print collection including his holdings of Carleton Watkins works reported as eighty tons of portrait negatives and twenty tons of view negatives. We are currently listing a diverse selection of items. We cannot mark merchandise values below value or mark items as gifts. And International government regulations prohibit this. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Contact should be made in three days. Txzj pxzj229 txzj-4 txzj1.

]]> https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2024/02/1876-carleton-watkins-view-of-court-palace-hotel-san-francisco-taber-mount/feed/ 0 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2023/09/carleton-watkins-city-front-from-california-st-b3729-san-francisco-cabinet-card/ https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2023/09/carleton-watkins-city-front-from-california-st-b3729-san-francisco-cabinet-card/#comments Fri, 29 Sep 2023 23:32:37 +0000 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2023/09/carleton-watkins-city-front-from-california-st-b3729-san-francisco-cabinet-card/







CITY FRONT from CALIFORNIA ST HILL B3729. 8 1/2 × 5 1/4. BEST OFFERS CONSIDERED – This photograph is priced high because I’m not sure of its value. I see hardly any other Watkins photographs for sale online as they are an even hotter commodity these days…

]]> https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2023/09/carleton-watkins-city-front-from-california-st-b3729-san-francisco-cabinet-card/feed/ 0 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2023/07/c1883-carleton-watkins-carmel-mission-california-real-albumen-photograph-12x8%c2%bcin/ https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2023/07/c1883-carleton-watkins-carmel-mission-california-real-albumen-photograph-12x8%c2%bcin/#comments Sat, 22 Jul 2023 13:46:08 +0000 https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2023/07/c1883-carleton-watkins-carmel-mission-california-real-albumen-photograph-12x8%c2%bcin/






RARE ORIGINAL EXEMPLAR FROM A SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS by CARLETON WATKINS OF OLD CALIFORNIAN MISSIONS. WATKINS Carleton Eugene, American photographer of the 19th century. Born in New York, he moved to California and quickly became interested in photography. He focused mainly on landscape photography, and Yosemite Valley was one of his favourites. [Mission, San Carlos del Carmelo], near Monterey in California, circa 1883. Original albumen silver photograph. Undated but circa 1883 see Getty, 94. Laid down to card album leaf. Size: photograph – approx. 12in x 8¼in / mount – slightly larger. Light age-toning and minor fading. Minor waviness to mount. A pleasing example on the whole. Please ask if you require a more detailed condition report, and view gallery images closely. A rare original albumen photograph by Carleton Watkins which shows the m ission of San Carlos del Carmelo, near Monterey, in California, taken from the west with a glimpse of Carmel Bay on the right side. It is from a series of images by Watkins that documented old mission buildings in California. Original albumen exemplars from the mission series by Watkins are rare (his Yosemite photographs are better known, though equally elusive). The Getty archive holds an example of this exact photograph, at the same size 12in x 8¼in, but printed with its centre further to the left. Our example shows more of the landscape on the right hand side of the mission building, and less of the ruins on the left. But both are from the same negative, and Watkins presumably also produced this print in its full’mammoth’ form i. Circa 18in x 12in with the entirety of its landscape displayed. This exemplar was printed in around 1883 (as per Getty), presumably by Taber. The negative itself was made by Watkins sometime between the mid 1860s and early 1880s.

]]> https://sanfranciscosanfrancisco.com/2023/07/c1883-carleton-watkins-carmel-mission-california-real-albumen-photograph-12x8%c2%bcin/feed/ 0