Help \ Info on Maris 61st HR photo

[drcy]

News photos were sometimes mounted to cardboard. If the image is sharp and clear and it came from a newspaper, it could be original. Just from the pic you posted, it looks first generation clear. It was common to put a newspaper clipping on back, but it was usually the real newspaper clipping not a Xerox copy. They often also have various cataloging numbers and writing on back. I doubt an auction house would write numbers on back.

If it's original, it's probably worth several hundred dollars. Who knows, maybe more. If it's a genuine news photo but from later, it would still have value. It will be hard to judge if it's original with it pasted to the board, but the clarity of the image is a sign. If the other photos are mounted in the same way and from the same period, that would support the age. Circumstantial evidence.

[YankeeFan]

Thank you for your insight David. I was hoping that you would be among those replying to this thread.

Good point about the Xerox on back instead of the original newsprint. Others in this small collection do have the original newspaper clipping on the back.

[drcy]

I don't think that it's a Xerox proves anything either way. It's just unusual. They could have simply Xeroxed what was on the back of the photo before mounting it. Or perhaps they had two photos, and Xeroxed the one clipping for the second. Or it could be sign it's a later photo. Putting newspaper clippings on back was just a form of record keeping. Though you'd be more confident if it was an original clipping.

Clearly, the safest would be to buy it as a later photo and if it later turns out to be original, then you're lucky. I half base things on what is the sales price. If he wants $100,000, then it doesn't matter what it is. If he wants $100, then it might be worth the chance.

A simple question is does the cardboard mount appear old, sell musty? After all, 1961 was over 50 years ago.