Disillusioned with Mastro--even if still grateful.

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Posted By: julie

Only the forum member shall remain annymous--and everyone knows who he is.

before i went all out for the Walker photo, several friends advised against it. How did I KNOW is was an "albumen print from the '80s"? (I knew it was Walker because I looked up the "University of Michigan varsity Baseball team" on "google," clicked [again] on "baseball"--and there was my photo, cleaned up and cropped, and still featuring Moses Fleetwood Walker).

I called MastroNet. com, and they told me to call Pennsylvania, where all their stuff was. The guy who answered the phone, after a couple of questions, said he'd put an expert on; the expert knew absolutely nothing about 19th century photography. He said to call back on Thursday, when Kevin Struss would be there--or he'd call me. Sho' nuff. he called me, and said the magic words, "It's an albumen print from the 80s." he also said the matting was just a folder, and the photo was attached to a very beat-up mount, and would i liked to see it. I would. I did.

I won it.

Last night, in the chatroom, I was saying how weird it was that Mastro has 65 autograpgh experts, and only one photograph expert. "As a matter of fact,' said mr. Annymous, "Kevin called me before he called you." "WHAT?" I said. "He was concerned about 2 photos--yours--a little--and a very large 1868 Cincinatti Red Stockings photo." (Very large photos are quite rare in the 19th century). "I advised him to examine the 68 Red Stockings carefully, and he could also do yours if he wanted," but mr. Annymous had seen the scans of mine, and wasn 't very concerned. How do you examine a 19th century photo? You put it under a 100X microscope, and look for fibres; no fibres; no albumen print.

So K. Struss examined the '68 red Stockings photo, and found it good. he did NOT examine mine. So when he called me and said "It's an albumen print from the 80s," he was telling me what someone else had sort of, but not quite, said. he didn't know it himself.

I got Mr. Annymous to tell me that I would need a 100X microscope, and to look for fibres ("if you really want to go to all that trouble. The photo has every other appearance of a 19th century photo, and none of an early 20th century copy."). I bought one, for $85 (including tax)--and I-SAW-FIBRES. An -up-and-down landscape, sort of braided, with shiny fibres sticking up out of it.

I saw fibres. Kevin Struss didn't see them, i did.

"This was the first time Mastro had ever asked for my help. I would have been glad to help them any time," Mr. Annymous said.