My only thread

[drcy]

"A key" I'm offended. Try the key. I consider myself the Dark Overlord of photography.

Actually, Yi messaged me. She lives too far away from me for me to see the photos in person, but I'll give her some distant advice. It appears she has so many photos, that she couldn't sell them all at once even if she wanted, and she can put aside the ones she's not sure about in a pile for later.

One interesting thing is it appears as if she may have a lot modern color originals of folks like Clemens and Tony Gwynn. If they're originals by her uncle, that's a lot different than the mass produced reprints you see all around. And modern photography, including color photography, is one of my areas of expertise. You can date and authenticate them just as you do antique photos-- at the least show that they are not recent reprints. The baseball photography hobby is mostly about old photos, largely ignoring modern stuff, but in other areas of photography (fashion and art for example), high end modern originals can fetch as much money as antique photos. Just because it's modern doesn't mean it's plentiful. An original 1978 color photo of Robin Yount may be as rare if not rarer than a 1920s of Babe Ruth.

For an example of modern rarity and value, in the area of fashion magazine photography, there fewer than 20 known original fashion photographs of the famous model Gia Carangi who modeled in the late 1970s-early 1980s (She died in 1986 at the age of 26). Tons and tons of cheap reprints on eBay and elsewhere, but very few quality Type Is. Magazines such as Vogue and Elle simply threw out their photos long ago and few originals remain. I once had an original 1979 Vogue magazine color photograph of Carangi that came from the collection of the Vogue photographer and it sold for $500 on eBay. That of course is more than most 1930s Babe Ruth photos.

I think modern (Post 1970) baseball photography is in its infancy compared to other areas of photography. Of course this is in major part because most baseball collectors can't tell if a modern photo of Cal Ripken or Derek Jeter is original or reprint, and don't know what separates a rare quality modern photo from a dime a dozen.

Duly note I'm not suggesting at all that an original 8x10 color photo of Cal Ripken or Tony Gwynn will sell for $500 or even close. The $500 was an exceptional instance outside of baseball, used as an example to illustrate the collectability of modern photography, and Gia Carangi is something of a Shoeless Joe Jackson/James Dean/Greta Garbo-like icon to many. Angelina Jolie played her in a movie. As with Shoeless Joe Jackson, any vintage original memorabilia of Canangi fetches a huge premium on the market.

But highest quality modern original non-sport photographs of other celebrities-- movie stars, Presidents, rock stars, famous artists-- can also fetch good money on the market. And modern original non-sport photos by world famous photographers also fetch good money. The baseball hobby just doesn't seem to be mature enough or knowledgeable enough about modern photography for that area to have yet caught on in baseball. Maybe someday.

I'm happy to informally advise collectors on the subject, and would write an article/short guide on collecting, valuation and authenticating modern sports photography if someone such as PSA or a big auction house asked. But, otherwise, I have other non-photography projects that are taking up my time, and wouldn't write an article in the near future on my own initiative.