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HankronQUICK TIP OF THE DAY #2: ACME, International News and United Press Stamps are Old
PHOTO STAMPS: News Service, magazine, studio and individual photographer photos usually have their stamp(s) on the back of the photo. These stamps can tell the photography historian about the photograph, including approximately how old is the photograph. While there are hundreds if not thousands of different possible stamps, today’s quick tip focuses on three common and easy to remember stamps. The presence of these stamps on a photograph indicate that the photograph is old.
SCENARIO: You are the biggest New York Yankees fan and, in an eBay auction, is the perfect news service (‘wire photo’) photograph showing Mickey Mantle (rookie year) with Joe DiMaggio (last year) in 1951. The current bidding is at $300 and you are itching to place a bid. The problem is that you don’t know much about photos and don’t want to pay $400 for a photograph reprinted in 1995. The auction has a picture of the back of the photo, and there is a stamp but you have no idea what the stamp means. You email the seller, and she says that she knows hardly anything about photography and, while the photo looks old, she doesn’t know if it’s vintage.
If the stamp on the back of the photograph says: ‘ACME Newspictures,’ ‘International News Photos,’ ‘United Press’ or ‘United Press Association’, you can be assured that the photograph is vintage. Why? These news service names and stamps were discontinued in the 1950s, and won’t appear on a photograph made after the late 1950s.
Important Note: Do not confuse United Press (UP) and United Press Association with “United Press International (UPI).” UPI was the name of the new company formed after UP.