Wallace Nutting Library - Categories of Wallace Nutting photographs

Categories of Wallace Nutting Photographs.

Wallace Nutting hand colored photographs can generally be placed in seven categories.

Exterior: The most popular pictures sold by the Nutting Studio were exterior scenes such as apple orchards in spring bloom, clusters of birch trees, lakes and streams, country roads bordered by stone walls. More unusual exterior photographs include a colonial woman entering or leaving a home or manse, or a close up view of farm structures and homesteads. Exterior garden scenes and photographs with architectural elements such as doorways, cathedrals and California missions are harder to find and attract the attention of collectors.

Interior: The most common of interior photographs is of a colonial woman in front of a fireplace. Although Nutting photographed several young girls in front of several fireplace hearths if you've seen one, you think you have seen them all. For this reason collectors look for and appreciate the more unusual interior scenes. These can include bed chamber scenes, scenes with two or more women or photographs taken inside identifiable mansions.

Foriegn Pictures: Wallace Nutting made photographs in eighteen foreign countries. It is relatively easy to find pictures from England, Ireland and to some extent, Canada, Italy and Holland. Harder to find pictures are from France, Wales, Palestine, Jerusalem, Germany and Egypt.

Still Life Floral: At the direction of Mrs. Nutting, Wallace made still life floral photographs. Florals are not rare in the sense that there appears to be a good number of them available. But collectors search out those titles of which fewer are thought to exist. This usually results in higher prices at auction. Florals are generally found close-framed with the signature applied directly to the picture. More unusual is to find florals mounted on a signed, and if size permits, titled mat.

Snow Scenes: Snow scenes are rare and can be found close-framed or mounted on a signed mat. Smaller pictures start at around $250 and larger scenes, such as A Winter Welcome Home can sell for over $1,000.

Pictures with Children or Men: Pictures with children are rare. The exception is The Coming Out Of Rosa which sold well throughout Nutting's career. Sufficient numbers can be found to supply demand but it still commands a respectable price selling for between $150 and $300 in the 14" x 17" frame size. Most other child pictures can start at $300 and, like The Guardian Angel sell for several thousand dollars. Pictures with men are also rare. Harder to find are pictures with men and animals, or children and animals in the same picture.

Pictures with Animals: Sheep were by far the most photographed animal. Sheep scenes can usually be purchased at auction in the $150/300 range. Although few pictures feature cats, those titles that are found seem to be sufficient in number to satisfy collector demand. One such title is Comfort And A Cat which ususally sell in the $150/300 range. Pictures of cows are harder to find and can sell in the $300 to $600 range. Oxen and horses are harder still and will usually start in the $750 range.

My opinion of values reflected above are based on condition, size of the photograph, originality and exposure to a good retail market.