Fascinating Album Featuring 1,500 Vintage Mugshots Goes for $10K at Auction

This tattered old photo album containing a fascinating collection of some 1,500 mugshots taken over one hundred years was recently sold by the Swann Galleries auction house in New York for $10,000.

The book went up on the block last month during Swann’s Fine Photographs and Photobooks auction, and when it comes to photobooks, this one will probably beat every coffee table book in your possession — at least in terms of interesting content.

Inside you’ll find 1,500 vintage mugshots of criminals from California, Oregon, Iowa, Arkansas, New York and even some from Canada. Each photograph is paired with a hand-written description that includes the suspect’s name, their place of origin, their current location, the crime they were accused of, their age, some identifying characteristics and a date.

Here are a few more pictures of the item:

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From a historical perspective, this is an extremely valuable collection of photographs that will probably never get much recognition. Only mugshots like this one, with its eerily modern aesthetic, ever resurface and make it into the general public’s awareness ever again.

Still, wouldn’t you love to have this puppy sitting on your coffee table for the occasional dinner party? Talk about a conversation starter.

(via Laughing Squid)

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