help with original photos

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Posted By: craig

i recently purchased a large batch of original photos from the archives of the des moines register. these photos are of the dm boosters and demons of the 20's and 30's and include many of the teams stars of the time. many of these are cropped and others have a black or grey substance covering all but the main focus of the picture. is there a way of removing this masking agent that was applied? i would really like to see the whole picture. also, does this have any effect on the historical significance of the picture?

thanks
craig

[Archive]

Posted By: Hankron

The grey ink or similar markings (cropping marks, etc) means that the photo was the actual photo used to make a picture in the newspaper. The grey ink was to make a clean background or otherwise omit bothersome details for the newspaper picture. Sometimes there was added detail-- such as outlining a player's hand or head in thin black or silver ink. Cropping marks indicate how the image was 'cut down' in the newspaper picture. Many of these types of photos were physically cropped.

Likely you can't remeove the silver (or would be tough to do). However, the marks are 'official' and often adds to the value of the photo, as it can help authenticate the photo and because some collectors like the original art for published photos.

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Posted By: Hankron

Please note that the attractiveness, of lack thereof, of the production marking is both in the eye of the beholder and should be judged photo-by-photo. Production marking can both be tasteful and even enhancing, and it can be a bucket whitewash against the wall.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

John "Shano" Collins that came with some Blacksox photos I bought, and roughed up the emulsion where the water touched it. That emulsion is thin! I tried it on Shano because even though it's an original Conlon photo, and Shano looks very interesting--I don't really care about him. I wanted to see if it worked before I tried it on Cicotte--it didn't. The duller emulsion is difficult to see through the Mylar, but it's there.

Anybody want to buy--nah, I'll keep it.

[Archive]

Posted By: Hankron

Here's a photo of boxer Ezzard Charles. The overpainting here is unusually extravagant and detailed. The background is in silver ink. If you look closely you see that his trunks and the bottom of his glove is all handpainted! Actually, the photo is affixed to a board and the bottom portion is all painting (you can see the line where the photo ends). His name is handwritten in two color inks! ... To my eyes, this is a work of art.