Henry Yee Auction

[ibuysportsephemera]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

WOW, Henry must be doing great with his consignments lately. I believe that he just had a great selection of items only a month or two ago, am I correct?

Henry told me (about 8 months ago) that he is auctioning off his own images now and for the most part not taking consignments.

Jeff

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

Henry told me (about 8 months ago) that he is auctioning off his own images now and for the most part not taking consignments.

Jeff

Same here.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

Henry told me (about 8 months ago) that he is auctioning off his own images now and for the most part not taking consignments.

Jeff

Henry has partnered with John Rogers. He announced it in October of last year.

[perezfan]

Lots of iconic photos included in this round... Ruth, Gehrig, Johnson, etc.
It does make you wonder how many more will re-surface as additional newspaper archives are released over future years.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Is it more likely that all of these newspaper archive acquisitions will depress the market prices for original photos or will they generate more and more collectors entering this segment of the hobby as more product will become available and, thus, ultimately increase prices? Of course, all of the hardcore photo collectors will say the latter but how do the non-biased board members feel?

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

Is it more likely that all of these newspaper archive acquisitions will depress the market prices for original photos or will they generate more and more collectors entering this segment of the hobby as more product will become available and, thus, ultimately increase prices? Of course, all of the hardcore photo collectors will say the latter but how do the non-biased board members feel?

I think both. The abundance of photos, especially the lower-to-mid-tier ones, is keeping prices down on those for now as more are coming into the market than collectors can absorb, even with more photo collectors being drawn in by the abundance/attractiveness of vintage photos. On the other hand, even with all of the archives opening up, there are still not enough top-tier photos to go around for the existing collectors, let alone the new collectors who are refining their tastes and working their way up the chain to the nicer material. Even with all of these archives opening up, there simply isn't the equivalent of a "Black Swamp Find" when it comes to top tier photos, and you're not going to see a collection of, say, 100 early-career original Babe Ruth photos hitting the market all at once and driving down prices. The Top Tier photos will remain top tier, and in my opinion, will only go higher as more collectors turn their eyes to vintage photos.

But enough talking about market prices of stuff. To modify what Mark said, collect what you like, but not what I like, and we'll all be happy

[drcy]

There's a lot more interest, knowledge and collectors of news photos than there were eve 15 years ago, and finds and big sales like this likely contribute.

Highest example qualities (rarity, clarity, subject, poses, artistry, size, famous images, etc) will always be in high demand and limited.

I suspect there may be lowering of dime a dozen photos and certain subjects where tons more examples are found (which can be good for collectors on normal budgets), but rising in value of the primo examples due to the larger and more experienced collector base. When there are more photos available, the collector has to be more discerning.

I'm certain the single photos Yee picks out for his auctions are cherry picked as the primo examples from piles and piles and aisles and aisles of photos (see Leon's picture). He's offering the best he finds.

[bcbgcbrcb]

I pretty much agree that the high-end, most desirable photos will continue to appreciate while the "middle of the pack" stuff may drop a little initially but could rebound over time.

[Rob D.]

During my 30-plus years in journalism, I've worked at seven different newswpapers, ranging from a community weekly to a couple of major metropolitan ones. Because of my collecting interests, I've always taken an interest and explored the libraries and photo "morgues" where I worked. Based on what I've seen filed away, I would have reservations paying serious money for any photo touted as being unique or a 1 of 1.

My belief is that there is so much out there, and not just what was filed away by major newspapers. Midsize and smaller papers certainly can have jaw-dropping collections. What's more, even though it has been some time since papers entered the digital age, that doesn't mean they've made decisions to get rid of their stashes of hard-copy photographs. As an example, my current employer has a building full of vintage photographs stored off site, where they've been sitting since the 1970s. There simply hasn't been a need to do anything with them, so there they sit. But my guess is they eventually will come to market, as will other archives.

Also, at a major paper I worked at about 20 years ago, I was killing some time during my lunch hour one day looking through folders of baseball subjects. There were three, 2-inch-thick folders of Babe Ruth photos, including what we now call Type 1 examples of him as a Red Sox player. The Joe Jackson file was equally impressive, with multiple copies of some photos. Ty Cobb? Easily 200 vintage photos.

Given the fact that this paper is in a southern city where college basketball is king, I can only imagine what resides in the archives of newspapers where major-league baseball dominated the local sports scene.