Swann Galleries is offering the circa late 1860s image for sale in New... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — A rare photograph of 19th century abolitionist and Underground Railroad hero Harriet Tubman has been sold at a New York City auction for $162,500. Swann Galleries is offering the circa late 1860s image for sale in New... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This undated file photo provided by Swan Auction Galleries shows a photograph of 19th century abolitionist Harriet 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. 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.
– A rare photograph of 19th-century abolitionist and Underground Railroad hero Harriet Tubman has been sold at a New York City auction for $162,500. Swann Galleries says the circa late-1860s image sold Thursday for a hammer price of $130,000, plus a $32,500 auctioneer fee, the AP reports. The auction also included books, other printed materials, and photos from the slavery and abolition eras. The name of the winning phone bidder hasn't been released. The Tubman photo, which Swann specialist Wyatt Day tells Reuters is "remarkable," shows her seated on a chair and was taken in Auburn in central New York in 1868 or 1869. What makes it unique is that the photo was taken when Tubman was in her 40s, unlike most other pictures that show her when she's much older. "This is what she looked like in her prime Civil War period when she was working as a spy for Lincoln," Day notes. Tubman biographer Kate Clifford Larson says this new look at the famous abolitionist could help the public "reimagine" her. The Maryland-born Tubman led escaped slaves to freedom before and during the Civil War. She settled in Auburn after the war and is buried there.