Opinion on vintage photos

[JoeyF1981]

Its awesome to see more people getting interested in vintage photo collecting. Ive noticed in the last year it seems to be really taking off as more people are appreciating sports photography. Do you think photo collecting will continue to rise over time or does it seem like whats hot at the moment? I for one cant get enough of vintage sports photos and what they represent. Just would like to get peoples opinions on this.

[Exhibitman]

I think it is a field with great potential. Very affordable way to collect prewar or anything else, and there are some real gems out there, especially if you collect stuff other than baseball. The liquidation of news archives is flooding the market with great stuff so prices are very reasonable now even for first rate images.





I am really starting to appreciate snapshots. The first mass market cameras were issued around the turn of the last century so there were millions of amateurs out there shooting away even in the deadball era.







I also like the artwork that some newspapers and magazines made with photos and have started buying that too.

[slidekellyslide]

I used to have a huge snapshot collection...I collected them when not a lot of people did and you could get lots on ebay for pretty cheap...haven't really searched them out for a few years, but I get the feeling that they are no longer an overlooked area of collecting. Professional photos are great, but there's just something about the amateur snapshots that's very appealing to me.

I kept the ones that fit my collection.





c1910 Lincoln minor league game


Wahoo Sam Crawford


Clarence Mitchell


Dazzy Vance

[Scott Garner]

Joey,
Even though I have a modest collection of vintage baseball photographs compared to others on this board, I'm with you that I very much enjoy this aspect of collecting.

I have seen what images you have been adding to your own collection that you've posted here on net54.

Answering your question though, I believe that no matter what you collect, you can never lose by collecting quality. Without question, the images that you are choosing are first rate by any measure.

[drcy]

And there's a vast and varied photography world beyond sports too. Art photography, modern, historical, etc etc. The good thing is if you have a basic knowledge of old baseball photos you have a similar knowledge of similar non-sport photos-- Presidents, movies, etc. Movie photos are similar to sports press photos, and a cabinet card of Abe Lincoln will be similar to a baseball player cabinet card.

Modern photography is very interesting too.



St. Peterburg cabinet card of the Romanov Family by the official Royal photographer. Notice the text is Russian.




Union Generals Custor and Pleasanton in 1863




Lucky Luciano and his dog relaxing at the piano in Italy. Standard news photo from after he was deported.




1850s tintype of young man and his dog in original case




Original large 1990s negative for Chanel fashion catalog by Karl Lagerfeld. Digitally switched to positive image for viewing purposes.


The Romanov and Civil War Generals photos sold for around the $9,000-$12,000 each, as they are both exceptional and rare examples of historical photos. The Luciano news photo would be cheap. The Chanel negative would probably go for $100-$200 due to the famous photographer and model (Helena Christensen), that fashion photography is popular and it's a stylish image. That's my hand holding the dog tintype, but I don't know what it sold for or if it sold. I examined it for an auction house, but it never showed up in the catalog. Maybe the owner decided to keep it. Tintypes of animals are not common, but you see them around. As you can imagine, animals are always popular subjects with collectors.

Oh, and the Custer photo was professionally restored. It was deacified and the not shown backing is modern acid free paper. It's an original of a famous image that appears in a Custer biography.

[MooseDog]

Love the Lucky Luciano photo…the dog's got a "whadda YOU looking' at?" look. Gangsta Chi-hua-hua...

[71buc]

It’s no secret that I love baseball photos as well. However, I often find myself tempted by non-baseball images but have managed to fight the urge to purchase them. The only time I stray from baseball is when original images of Pancho Villa surface. For some reason I have to have them and cannot contain myself. Fortunately they don’t appear very often because when they do they tend to be much pricier than any of the baseball images I have added to my collection. The two examples below are from 1914 and are the most expensive original pictures I have purchased to date. I thought they look cool together and represented the changing times.

[JoeyF1981]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Joey,
Even though I have a modest collection of vintage baseball photographs compared to others on this board, I'm with you that I very much enjoy this aspect of collecting.

I have seen what images you have been adding to your own collection that you've posted here on net54.

Answering your question though, I believe that no matter what you collect, you can never lose by collect collecting quality. Without question, the images that you are choosing are first rate by any measure.

Thank you very much scott. Your collection is top notch as well and its good to share the hobby with guys like you who can appreciate it. Would love to see some of your other favorite photos you have in your collection. You can pm me and ill send you some pics of my newest additions

[judgebuck]

Love reading about and seeing these photos. Each one is so unique.

[Bumpus Jones]

Here's one of my favorite snaps. Spring training with the Reds in 1913. That's Dick Hoblitzell on the right...

[ramram]

I didn't think sports photography would gain traction at first, except for the early stuff (19th century), but I'm amazed at how it has taken off. I guess there is so much money out there in the pockets of sports collectors and limited amount of material that it is bound to spill over. I'll admit I've even started to get drawn into the non-commercial snapshots that are out there.

Rob M.

Jimmy Shields 1.jpg

1.jpg

[Exhibitman]

Yeah, the snapshots are fun. I'd not say they're completely overlooked but relative to other stuff, still quite a deal. Some I've picked up over the last year:

Rocky Marciano:



Joe Louis:



Gabby Hartnett: