EARLY 20TH CENTURY DEEP LEVEL MINING PHOTOS, JOHANNESBURG REGION, WITH STEREOSCOPE VIEWER (VERY SCARCE FIND).

Original photos.

The stereoscope is circa the late 19th early 20th century. The photo-slider was adapted and there is a slight indentation to the upper side of the metal viewer.

The cards all show edgewear. Two cards are torn in half, but all pieces are present and still good for viewing in the stereoscope. The deep-level photos varies in condition. Mostly good, but some are faded, some with signs of overexposing and some with wear from handling. The few hunting and general photos are mostly faded and in less of a good state.

A collection of deep-level mining stereo-view photos. It is part of a collection of 73 original stereo-view photos consisting of 61 professionally produced deep-level mining photos by the Neilson Bros. These photos are on stereo-view oblong cards with the photographer's name and Johannesburg post box address printed on the facing left- and right- -hand sides.

The balance of photos depicts hunting and general countryside images of the period and seems to be more of an amateur effort. Twenty-nine of these images were pasted onto the back of the mining cards.

The Heritage Portal: "Deep-level mining photographs of mines in the Johannesburg region were mainly produced by the brothers Raymond and George Neilson. These images, taken between 1904 and 1910, seem to have been produced only in stereo view formats and were sold both locally and internationally (click here to see previous article by author on stereo photography in South Africa).

The Neilson brother’s images would have any of the following details recorded on them:

  Raymond Neilson (Box 145, Johannesburg)
  GB Neilson (15 Victoria street – Georgetown)
  Neilson Bros Photographers (Box 145, Johannesburg)
  Geo B Neilson Bros (84B Fourth street - Boksburg North)

In some instances, images do not contain any photographer details, but can be linked to their work.  .... The brothers were clearly very active in their field. They went around to all deep-level mines in and around Johannesburg photographing their inner activity. What is not clear is whether they visited each mine only once or on more than one occasion. If they only visited the mine once, how much time did they spend at each mine? It can be safely assumed that it would have been more than a month at a time.

It is further assumed that the brothers initially worked individually but later combined their efforts around deep-level mining photography. ..... Some images were numbered with inscriptions (engraved on the original glass plate), whilst others are without any inscriptions or numbering.

Where numbers can be seen on the images, it is clear that there was an attempt by the brothers to follow a logical numbering system. The prefix in the numbering system clearly relates to the actual mine. To date, it can be confirmed that the brothers photographed the following (with highest number of photographs identified to date - each with the relevant prefix of the appropriate mine):

  Knights deep (K93);
  Modder Deep (MD140);
  State Mines (SM447);
  Carson (C281);
  Crown mines (C732);
  Geldenhuis Deep (G70).

It is also recorded that New Primrose, Robinson, Kleinfontein, Nourse, Cinderella Deep & Comet mines were photographed."