Photo Collecting

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Posted By: Eric B

I've resisted asking this question because it's probably stupid. But there has to be someone else who wonders the same thing.

Why do photographs get such high prices? I can understanf the tin-types and CDV's from the 1800's in which you only got one. But don't photos from the 1910's to present come from a negative? If so, couldn't someone just keep making new ones from that negative?

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Posted By: Joe D.

but the same concern you have about a modern print of a photo can be said for any cards that you collect.

Modern prints can be made of any card.

Modern prints can be made of any photo.

Hopefully as collectors we can identify the vintage stuff from the new copies.



I hope to get better at identifying the vintage stuff myself... because I would love to buy photos with more confidence.

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Posted By: Rhys

The photo making processes are as different from the 1910's as the printing of baseball cards was. To someone who knows what they are doing, a modern photo cant be mistaken for a 100 year old one, the same way a modern repro baseball card can not be mistaken for authentic.

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Posted By: Eric B

So what you are saying is that unless someone comes across a negative from a particular year and some old developing equipment and paper and chemicals from the same time frame that it wouldn't pass as original?

Just like it would take a find of an old printing press with original paper (cardboard) stock next to it and the original stamp and inks to be able to print a T206 that was identical to an old one?

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Posted By: davidcycleback

You can usually tell if a photo is vintage or modern reprint by looking at the physical photograph.
With a Charles Conlon photo of Nap Lajoie, for example, a collector can can know that it's original.

Some old photos have aging effects that happen over many years, so a collector can see things that
prove the photo old.

There are about 3 million T206 reprints, including countless made from home computers, yet an avid
T206 collector can know the Hugh Jennings he just received in the mail is original.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

There are people out there who are faking old pictures and are pretty good at it. That Portland postcard was a pretty good fake as far as making it look old goes...if he had done a better job of cutting it he might have fooled more people, but the winner of the auction is a very knowledgeable postcard and photo collector and he bid $140 on it. I doubt he honored the bid though because I contacted him about it and he said I wasn't the only person to give him the heads up)

I started collecting photos about 3 years ago and I was a bit uncertain going in. I can tell you that the more you handle the old photos you can just tell by looking them over. It also helps to buy from guys like Rhys if you are starting out because you know that you are getting the real deal. I bought a bunch of photos from him when I first started out because I knew I could trust him.

You should also buy David Rudd's photo guide

edited my first grade grammar mistake.