Live auction - Lot 454
[Africa - Congo]
Collection of ca. 927 photos.
20th c
Hammer price: €
320
€ 300 / 400
Live bidding (Drouot*) Live bidding (Invaluable*)Bidding is closed
Lot description
127 glass negatives in 7 boxes and 803 negatives on plastic film in 3 boxes.
Photos covering the life of a Belgian family, possibly colonials in Congo. Photos showing many family portraits, in Belgium (a.o. at the Belgian coast) as well as in Congo. A lot of photos of the family on a ship, possibly the motor-ship "Baudouinville", the first Belgian passenger ship with that name. But also photos of the family in the swimming pool, on the bike, on a motorbike, in a car, playing tennis, relaxing, constructing brick houses, etc. Also photos of African dwellings, African people, soldiers, their training, encampment and artillery, etc. One negative with a boat named "Colonel Van Gele", after the Belgian soldier, Alphonse van Gèle, who served as the Vice-Governor General of the Congo Free State from December 1897 until January 1899. Another negative with a boat named Thysville, named after Albert Thys, a city and territory in Kongo Central Province in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. One with a statue of Leopold II. Another with a three-motor biplane, the "Princesse Marie José". A couple of photos of tombstones in a cemetery unveiling only a family name "Brauns" on one tombstone and a surname "Marie" on another tombstone. A lot of photos with family members wearing pith helmets. Interesting family photo archive that needs further research.