Lot of 3, all albumen photographs on original card stock mounts and ink stamped on reverse and 2 larger photos with blind-stamped imprints in lower left corner of N.L. Stebbins/Photo Boston. The two larger images are 7.5 x 9 inches on 11 x 14 inch card stock mounts. One is marked in negative in lower left ‘1516 Volunteer’ and shows this America’s Cup winner under sail. The next is marked in lower left ‘531’ with no name and am not sure which racing yacht this is. The last while on smaller card stock is actually the largest image, being 7.75 x 9.5 inches on slightly larger card stock and is marked in negative 1137 Mayflower. These two, the Mayflower and Volunteer actually competed against each other for the right to challenge the British entry in the 1887 America's Cup race, with Volunteers winning. The racing yacht Volunteer was an American racing yacht built in 1887 for the America’s Cup races. It was the victorious American defender of the seventh America's Cup match that same year against Scottish challenger Thistle. The first steel frame & hulled yacht to win the Cup. Nathaniel Livermore Stebbins (1847-1922) was a noted American marine photographer, whose surviving photographs document an important era in the development of American maritime activities, as sweeping technological and social changed revolutionized activity on the water, in military, commercial and leisure spheres (Wikipedia 2014). In 1886 America’s Cup yacht race, was between the American Sloop Mayflower and the English Cutter Galatea, with mayflower being the winner. These are some of the earliest photographs by Stebbins I have seen and the earliest America’s Cup photos by this noted photographer I could find. Truly an important group of albumen photos for any America's Cup collector.

1st with minor soil; 2nd quite soiled and crack in upper left corner of card stock, not effecting photo; 3rd Very Good.