Sawyer Pictures

Sawyer Pictures are hand-tinted photographs of scenes in northern New England (New Hampshire, mostly, and also Maine).  I discovered them at a shop in Brownington, Vermont, in 1998, and bought "Sunset on the Kennebec." 

For a product that was fairly widely distributed (think "quality souvenir"), apparently not many were purchased by Midwesterners because I haven't found them at sales or in shops in this area.  Today I found another one at an estate sale in Highland Park.  The man said, "It's a watercolor. $45."  I said, "It's a hand-tinted photograph.  $40."  He made a show of putting a jeweler's loupe to his eye. "It's a watercolor," he insisted.  I said, "Well, then I'm not interested," and began to walk away.  His daughter said, "Oh, Dad.  We'll take $45 for the picture and these other items." (A cookbook, one of L. M. Alcott's romantic thrillers, a box of vintage thread (the spools are labelled Willcox and Gibbs), and a box of contemporary notecards (c1996).)   The dad was not pleased, but I was.  And now "Crawford Notch from the Crawford House" joins "Sunset on the Kennebec." 

There still isn't much online information, but I found   this Wikipedia entry.

The new acquisition: Crawford Notch from the Crawford House

Sunset on the Kennebec

P.S. Here's the thread. The spools are about 1" high.