James Abram Garfield, 1831-1881.  20th President of the United States, 1881.  Beautiful framed 4" x 6" cabinet photograph boldly signed J. A. Garfield.  Accompanied by a glass negative of a photograph of the Garfield monument.

This is an outstanding bust portrait of Garfield.  It is not yellowed, and the surface is still glossy.  Garfield has signed with a large 3⅜" black fountain pen signature. 

The photo is an Artotype manufactured by the noted company Harroun & Bierstadt of New York, whose circular blind stamp appears in the lower right corner.  Photographer Edward Bierstadt, of Harroun & Bierstadt, was the brother of noted nineteenth century artist Albert Bierstadt.  He did not take this photograph, however.  Instead, Horace W. Tibbals, a photographer who worked in Painesville, Ohio, some seven miles from Garfield's home in Mentor, Ohio, from 1871 to 1884, took it expressly for Bierstadt and sent him the negative to make the Artotype.  Bierstadt registered the copyright on this Artotype, and Tibbals likewise registered his copyrights on two Garfield photographs, after Garfield died. 

It is possible, although we cannot say because it is undated, that Garfield signed this photograph as President.  Even if Tibbals took the photograph before Garfield entered office, a good amount of time would have elapsed by the time he sent the negative to Bierstadt in New York, Harroun & Bierstadt manufactured the Artotype, and the piece got to Garfield for his signature.  Material that Garfield signed as President is, of course, extremely rare because he was shot on July 2, 1881, just under four months after his inauguration, and died on September 19, 1881, after only six months in office.  He is known to have signed only three items after he was shot.

The image in this photograph is used in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s official presidential portrait of Garfield, the die for which was engraved by Lorenzo Hatch in 1881.  It was also used on the 6¢ stamp issued in 1903.

This is an absolutely stunning image of Garfield.  The signature is bold except for the "d" in “Garfield,” which is a bit light.  The photograph has been matted in a complementary gray-white mat and framed in an ornate, period-looking silver wood frame to an overall size of 8½" x 10½".  We have not examined it out of the frame, but it appears to be in very fine condition. 

This piece is accompanied by a 5" x 7" glass negative of a photograph of the Garfield monument outside the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.  The statue was commissioned in 1884 and the monument was erected in 1887 by Garfield's fellow members in the Society of the Army of the Cumberland.