First photograph of a surfer goes to auction

February 28, 2011 | Surfing
Hawaii, 1890: the first surf dude is deciding whether he is going left or right

The photograph has survived decades and it is considered the first picture of a surfer.

The surf treasure dates back to 1890 and will be auctioned at a starting asking price set between £7,000-10,000.

Dominic Winter Book Auctions is selling a good pair of photograph albums, with 102 albumen prints. The most famous picture shows a Hawaiian local rider staring at the breaking waves with a rude surfboard behind him.

The original owner and the photographer are not known, but the collection also displays topless native women from Hawaii and Fiji, the Hawaiian Royalty (King Kalakaua, Queen Liliuokalani and Princess Kaiulani).

In the recent past, a private bought the collection and is now reselling it. When Captain Cook discovered Hawaii he observed several men surfing waves and wrote it in his diaries.

One century after, Duke Kahanamoku kicked off the official surfing recognition as a sport and even founded the "Club of the Waves."

The future owner of this piece of surfing history - the first surfer ever pictured in a photograph - should have reasons to travel back in time and imagine how it was to ride waves in uncrowded spots.

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