Photo Restoration question

[EddieP]

Originally Posted by Michael B

I do not go by those 'types' however, this is a press photo that is highly unlikely a wire photo. All wire photos are, by definition press photos. Not all press photos are wire photos. A wire photo in many cases has the caption imbedded in the photo. Press photos that have original period caption sheets attached, even when it is completely attached to the back rather than folded over the front, are usually not wire photos. The recipient of the photo, in theory, could create or print the caption sheet and attached it to the photo, but that is not common.

The one issue that no one has mentioned is that some previous owner had this framed. You can see remnants of linen mounting tape along the edges. That bothers me more than the missing corner. If I were to do anything with this photo I would remove that first

I would suspect that if you "restore" the photo by adding to it it is no longer a 'type 1' photo, but merely authentic. Another alternative is to have a hi-res scan (1200 dpi or larger) and someone with advanced photoshop skills can fill in the corner by cloning the background from the upper right side and flipping it. You could then make a nice print.

Like one other poster, I have also been a photographer for over 40 years. I have been a photography collector almost as long. I have photos in all different conditions; missing corners, creases, tears and other issues. At most I will clean the front of the photo with PEC-12 or Isopropyl alcohol and repair any rips or tears with archival document repair tape, which is essentially tissue paper, from the back. If I was concerned about the acidity of the caption sheet I would use newspaper deacidification spray sold by one of the archival supply companies like University Products or Archival Methods.

Some of my own photography is is this thread:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=280592

We’re not talking about the Ruth photo. A wire photo was a type of press photo in which the original photo ( AKA vintage Original or Type 1) was transmitted over a “wire” ( similar to fax machines) to various newspapers across the country. Thus “wire” photos ( or Vintage Copies) are copies of the original. The quality of the picture is similar to fax machine or Xerox copy. In PSA/ BGS terminology they are “ Type 3” .

Wire photos tend to have the captions typed under the white border of the photo.

So no, cleaning, restoring etc will not affect the “ Type” of the photo.
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“At most I will clean the front of the photo with PEC-12 or Isopropyl alcohol and repair any rips or tears with archival document repair tape, which is essentially tissue paper, from the back. If I was concerned about the acidity of the caption sheet I would use newspaper deacidification spray sold by one of the archival supply companies like University Products or Archival Methods.”

So how’s this any different from what a Card Cleaning Company would do?