Emigrants Crossing the Plains, American West Wagon Migration – 1869 Engraving

€ 270

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1869
Sheet size: 23.3 × 31.6 cm (9.2 × 12.4 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-14129-22

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Condition

Good antique condition. Light age toning and scattered foxing, primarily in the margins. The engraved image remains strong and well-defined. A visible plate mark is present. No major tears or losses observed.

About this sheet

Emigrants Crossing the Plains, an original steel engraving after a design by F. O. C. Darley, engraved by H. B. Hall and published in New York by D. Appleton and Co. The plate title is lettered in script below the image, and a copyright line is engraved in the margin.

A covered wagon moves toward the viewer, and a woman with a baby and two children look out from beneath its canvas. In front, a man with a long whip drives two oxen, one dark and one white, while a bearded rider on a pony carries a rifle across his saddle. A dog trots at the lower left, a calf follows behind, and at the left a man and woman pause at the roadside. More wagons and cattle string away across the dry rolling plain, and snow-capped peaks show faintly on the horizon.

Darley was a leading American illustrator, and the sheet is one of the best-known images of the overland migration in the 1840s and 1850s.