Jef Hinds buys and sells collectibles on eBay and his specialty is comic books. He also has passion for Madison history, and earlier this month he came upon an auction of 26 extremely rare historic Madison photos.

When the three-night Internet auction was over and the dust had settled, Hinds had successfully bid on 15 of the photos.

"They're spectacular," Madison historian Stuart Levitan was saying Thursday. Levitan, author of "Madison: The Illustrated Sesquicentennial History, 1856-1931," consulted with Hinds just prior to the bidding. "He has done a real public service bringing these home."

All the photos, which are stereoviews (side-by-side images, which when viewed through a stereoscope appear three-dimensional), are from the 1850s and 1860s and include the only known stereoview photo of Madison in 1856 and the only known stereoview of the first state Capitol building.

But there is one other, fairly non-descript photo that has both Hinds and Levitan particularly excited. It appears possible — likely, in Hinds' opinion — that it is a photograph of the Peck cabin, the first inhabited building in Madison, built in 1837.

The potential significance of the photo is huge, for this reason: No photograph of the Peck cabin is known to exist. It was portrayed years later in paintings based on the recollections of longtime Madison residents.

Hinds, who has done extensive research on the cabin in the past few weeks, believes the photo is the Peck cabin. "According to the 1855 Harrison map," Hinds noted, "this building is in exactly the right spot, it is the right size, right shape and the right orientation, and the picture could be old enough."

The Peck cabin, which was a boarding house and tavern run by Eben and Rosaline Peck, was torn down in May 1857.

Levitan thinks the photo might well be the cabin. "It sure looks like it," Levitan said. "It's in the right place. It's a real find."

David Mollenhoff, author of "Madison: A History of the Formative Years," is less sure. "I have my doubts," Mollenhoff said, after viewing an e-mail of the photo Thursday. He doesn't feel the structure in the photo is big enough. But Mollenhoff added, "I might be wrong," and said he wants to see the original image when Hinds receives it in a few days from the Internet seller.

That seller told Hinds he purchased the photos at an estate sale. The seller said he bought the entire estate, which came out of Vermont. It included a pine box with a name plate that read: "Vilas."

One of Madison's leading citizens in the 1850s and '60s was Levi B. Vilas, who came from Vermont. One theory is that Vilas mailed the photos back to Vermont to show his family his new home.

Hinds first spotted the pending eBay auction about three weeks ago. Reading the description of the stereoviews, he felt they were probably the work of photographer John S. Fuller, who lived in Madison from 1855 to 1865. A collection of 46 rare Fuller photographs from 1861 to 1863 was acquired by the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1996. Those photos had first surfaced in Texas.

The recent auction went across three nights. Eleven of the images were sold the first night, and Hinds immediately discovered he had a serious competing bidder.

"I wanted to get the whole collection," he said. "I missed a few early."

In the end, he got 15 of the 26, and most of those he really wanted. But the bidding was heated throughout. Hinds spent $425 for the photo that may include the Peck cabin. He spent more for others. An aerial stereoview of the residence of a prominent Madisonian and one-time Wisconsin governor, Leonard J. Farwell, went for $620.

Hinds, who is the son of Madison fitness entrepreneur Bobby Hinds, has been in contact with the Wisconsin Historical Society and hopes before long to have some kind of public unveiling of the photos.

He added, "It might be interesting to have at the unveiling a debate or panel on the case for and against the picture being of the Peck cabin. I think a fairly strong case can be made for it."

Contact Doug Moe at 608-252-6446 or dmoe@madison.com