LARGE 1 of a Kind WILLIAM \"BUFFALO BILL\" CODY ORIGINAL ALBUMEN PHOTO CIRCA 1870s For Sale

Up for sale is a remarkable find consisting of a LARGE one of a Kind WILLIAM \"BUFFALO BILL\" CODY ORIGINAL Albumen Photograph. It is believed to be circa mid to late 1870\'s preserved in the original Victorian Eastlake Frame. This appears to be the original frame while fitting perfectly the time period of the albumen photo. Eastlake frames such as this with faux bois and tortoise shell style were manufactured in the mid 1870\'s, so there is a strong likelihood it is original to the albumen photograph clearly dating to the 1870\'s as Will Cody is quite young in the image, probably mid to late 30\'s, starting to enter mid age and grey.
I had a couple historians look at this and they believe that this was a private or personal family portrait photo due to the size of the print (which would have been somewhat expensive), his wearing of the clothing with conservative precision and grooming as opposed to his \"showman\" type images which are known where he looks a bit rough and unkempt, wild. They also cited the fact that they could not find this image among any of the known images taken as portraits and sold as copies to the public to promote his shows after an extensive search of print and internet sources. Moreover, I was told that the majority of the images sold at shows and other venues for the public were signed by Cody or his staff to protect his business interest against unauthorized copies being made of his photos, so they said that lends to further support the assessment of this image as an original personal image intended for family or private life.Therefore, the consensus was that is a very nice unique, likely one of a kind image that may be a \"one off original\" making it quite rare and valuable. If someone can find another photo from the original plate of this image, please email me so we can have the most accurate information to accompany this important historical item. Unfortunately, it is not in perfect shape. It is quite faded but still clearly visible with some minor foxing to the image. It looks like it may have been hanging in a house next a staircase as the top right has a lighter shade with less fading as if a railing from a staircase blocked the sun from reaching that one corner as its clearly noticeable in the photos where you can see its not as \"yellowed\" on that top right corner area. It appears the frame was rebacked so I did not remove the backing paper but there may be additional information on there providing more context for this photo. The lines in some of the pictures are reflections in the glass of the vinyl siding of the shop so you can be assured they do not appear on the image as you can see they are not present in all the photos. I have taken photos in different types of lighting and angles for multiple views of the item so please review all photos for best assessment of the item. This is a great piece for a serious collector or museum to acquire and would look great in any collection of Wild West Americana! The total size of the piece in the frame is 16\" x 14 1/8\".
Thanks for looking and please see my other listings for unique historical items and fine art with new pieces added weekly!