[drcy]

Newspapers and magazines did trim photos, but if you see them in their vintage trimmed state you know they didn't do it for aesthetic reasons. They're often cut crooked, at strange angles and obviously not to please the eye. Be more than suspicious of an antique news photo that has perfect, mint edges-- that's more than probably a modern trim job. Old news photos very rarely to never have Gem Mint corners and edges. And real photo collectors don't give a shit if a photo is ExMt versus Nrmt-- that silliness is for baseball cards collectors and their anal retentive ways. Only idiot graded card collectors are looking for a Gem Mint 10 news photo of Ty Cobb. I've been a photo fan and collector for years and have not once done that graded baseball card collector thing of taking a loupe looking for hidden surface wrinkles or touches to the edges. Most Gem Mint 10 collectors should be on some sort of psychiatric meds and/or receive some form of cognitive-behavorial therapy. Forget trimming photos with scissors, I'm not sure they shouldn't even be allowed to hold anything sharp.

Seriously, the baseball card grade 8,9, 10 numbers game is a just way to somehow differenciate between baseball cards mass produced in the thousands if not tens of thousands. It gives grown up children a way to say "My 1992 Donruss is better than your 1992 Donruss." With a 1920 news photo, where perhaps three or four at most exist, that stuff doesn't matter. Condition and aesthetics do matter, but that a 1920 photo has a touch to the corner or a minor wrinkle to a edge really doesn't matter. A serious photo collector simply won't pay more or less if a rare photo is Ex or ExMt. That's why trimming a photo to gain perfect edges should be pointless.

As I've said for years, a new collector should be very wary of Gem Mint antique news photos. The Gem Mintness usually means it's either a modern reprint or has been trimmed. For that reason, collectors should actually find Gem Mint photos undesirable and that's why the Gem Mint craze should never catch on as it has with trading cards.

A problem with many baseball card collectors is they treat everything as if they're baseball cards, and not everything is like a baseball card. And that includes most photos worth collecting. The Mona Lisa is not a baseball card. Even within baseball cards, serious Old Judge collectors regularly complain that card graders are oblivious about clarity of the image, when OJs are little photos (literally) and serious OJ collectors greatly value (including in financial terms) the clarity of the image. Trimming down news photos to get 'Mint edges and corners' is just a horrid byproduct of baseball card collectors entering the genre. As I said, sincere and serious photo collectors don't give a shit about Mint edges. Only graded baseball card collectors care about that idiocy.

In short Mint 10 baseball card collectors are a disease and a menace and must be stopped. You guys write your Congressmen and I'll quick start a crowdfunding campaign on facebook. With any luck, with what's left over I'll have enough money to finally make my movie. It's a prequel to Alexander Nevsky starring talking dogs.

"So, David, how do you plan on getting the dogs talking in Russian?"
"Peanut butter and dubbing."