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 The photograph, previously unseen by scholars, shows Tubman
in her late 40s, wearing an intricately decorated blouse and
voluminous skirt, and sitting in a chair, leaning one arm on its
back.
"It's quite remarkable: This is what she looked like in her
prime Civil War period when she was working as a spy for
Lincoln," Wyatt Day, the specialist organizing the sale at Swann
Auction Galleries, said in a telephone interview.
He noted the photograph was taken about three years after the
American Civil War ended in 1865. "All of the images show her as
an older woman, maybe in her 70s. She looks a bit tired, and
here she looks vibrant and strong."
Kate Clifford Larson, a historian and Tubman biographer, said
the photograph, which was brought to Swann last year after being
purchased at auction by a collector of vintage photos about 10
years ago, could help the public "reimagine" Tubman.
"There are so many details about it that are thrilling," she
said in a phone interview. "She's so much younger and she's
dressed so beautifully, so it helps us look at her in a
different way."
Tubman, who escaped from slavery in Maryland when she was in her
20s, later led dozens of black slaves to freedom using the
Underground Railroad and became a Union Army spy during the
Civil War and women's suffragist.
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 The U.S. Treasury Department said last year it planned to put
her on the face of the $20 bill, replacing former President
Andrew Jackson, making her the first African-American so
honored.
The photograph for auction is in the form of a carte de visite,
a 19th-century custom in which people would leave photos of
themselves as a calling card.
It appears in a carte-de-visite album compiled by the Quaker
abolitionist Emily Howland. The album is estimated to sell for
$20,000 to $30,000, the gallery said.
Day said research had shown the photographer Benjamin F.
Powelson, who made Tubman's carte de visite, only spent time
near Tubman's home in Auburn in upstate New York from 1868 to
1869, when Tubman was about 48.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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