PORTRAIT OF A LITTLE BOY AND HIS PEDAL CAR IN THE MOTOR CITY (DETROIT)

This cabinet card features a young boy driving his Keystone Auto Pedal car. The elaborate toy car was made by the Mars Company. One source told me that the car was produced in 1905 but that information is unconfirmed. The child’s expression in this photo is priceless. He is trying to appear very serious, as if he was a mature and experienced driver. In other words he seems to be saying, “Driving is no big deal for me, I do it all the time”. A light stamp on the reverse of the cabinet card reveals that the photographer of this image was F. E. Nielson and his studio was at 344 Michigan Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Fredrick N. Nielson was born in Denmark in 1884, immigrated to the US in 1903, and married his wife Sophia in 1912. He conducted his photography business in Battle Creek (1918), Saginaw (1920), and Allegan (1920-1931). This portrait suggests that Nielson was a talented photographer.   (SOLD)