A woman in the USA bought old wedding photos at an auction. It turned out that they belong to a CIA spy

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Harriet Galbraith worked for the CIA in her youth. She was married to an agent, they worked as a couple. About 30 years ago, a woman gave her wedding portraits to relatives, and they lost them.

In January 2024, Sandra Poindexter won a woman’s wedding photos at an auction in the United States. She assumed that these photos were very valuable for the bride, and began to look for her.

The story of the photos was told by local TV channels WDBJ and WSET, the Washington Post writes.

Sandra Poindexter, 66, is a retired nurse. She writes novels and creates art, and regularly visits local auctions in search of craft supplies.

Photos on auction. Photo: Harriet Galbraith

On January 13, she saw vintage wedding portraits in a box of old photo frames at an auction in Virginia. Sandra was fascinated by the black and white photos and the bride posing in them.

“I just couldn’t believe how great they were. The lady and her dress were stunning and the photos were professionally taken“, she said.

The woman bid $5 on the portraits and won the lottery, but she didn’t plan on keeping the photos to herself.

“I wanted to find out how something so precious could end up at auction. Something told me that the photos are special for someoneSandra said.

On the back of one of the frames was a piece of masking tape with the name “Harriet Elizabeth Marshall (Galbraith)”. It was probably the name of the bride.

After the auction, she posted photos of the portraits in a local Facebook group and asked if anyone knew the woman or her family.

The post was seen by 65-year-old Donna Reichard, a resident of the town of Lynchburg. She searched for relatives of Harriet Elizabeth Galbraith for 3 hours and called about 15 people with this last name. Donna continued her search until she found Harriet Galbraith’s son.

Harriet Galbraith with photos from her wedding

Donna Reichard then shared the results of her search with Sandra Poindexter.

Sandra promised to send the portraits to the bride’s home in San Antonio.

85-year-old Harriet Galbraith told Sandra and Donna the background to these photos. For example, the dress in which she was in the photo was created by Christian Dior. Her ex-boyfriend’s mother gave her the dress.

Portraits of Galbraith’s newlyweds were taken by Bradford Buckrach, a photographer from the District of Columbia. He photographed many celebrities and high-ranking officials, including many US presidents.

The bride was only 21 years old, and then she had no idea that Bachrach was a famous photographer. She often passed the studio near the house. Harriet admitted that she often looked at the photos in the window and dreamed that the photographer would take pictures for her.

Immediately after the marriage, the bride and her husband William came to the studio at Dior. It was the summer of 1959.

“It took me a year and a half to pay the bill.”said Harriet.

She explained that she did not expect such a high cost of wedding portraits.

Husband and wife were CIA agents and worked together in various operations as spies in Morocco, Algeria and Poland. The couple had two children together, but one daughter died of meningitis at the age of 16.

Galbraith in his youth

When the Galbraiths retired, both became artists. In 2016, Harriet’s husband died, and within a year, the woman moved to another city to be closer to her family.

30 years ago, Harriet gave the portraits to her mother, who lived in Lynchburg, and then the pictures were in her sister’s house. When Galbraith asked about the photos, her sister said she couldn’t find them.

But Harriet always hoped to give the portraits to her two grandchildren, who are now 23 and 30 years old. After several years of fruitless searching, she decided that the photos were gone forever.

When the woman received the wedding photos, she felt that the images brought her back to happy memories.

“My husband and I have been married for 56 years and we had a very strong, loving marriage – so old-fashionedHarriet added.

Read also: The photographer photographed 4 sisters for 45 years in a row. It’s more than just pictures

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