Original negatives- underrated? Show yours

[Chris-Counts]

A few years back, I bought a batch of Reds' negatives from the 1939-40 era off eBay. A couple weeks later, I noticed they were smoking (no joke!). Soon, they had melted into a puddle of goo. I was never very good at chemistry, but I figured some kind of chemical reaction was going on. At this point, I decided to give up collecting negatives, but I did get a couple nice prints made from them before they self-destructed.

[horzverti]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

A few years back, I bought a batch of Reds' negatives from the 1939-40 era off eBay. A couple weeks later, I noticed they were smoking (no joke!). Soon, they had melted into a puddle of goo. I was never very good at chemistry, but I figured some kind of chemical reaction was going on. At this point, I decided to give up collecting negatives, but I did get a couple nice prints made from them before they self-destructed.

Chris, that is a terrible that your negs were destroyed. Sorry to read that. May I ask how you had stored the negatives? Were they in individual sleeves? If so, what material were the sleeves made of?

[Keith_Loving]

You need to be careful to avoid high heat. Don't store them in an attic where the temps can get really hot and partly melt and warp the negatives. I have a hard time believing they were smoking, but I am no expert on this topic. Just a skeptic. Hopefully you had prints made before the negatives were toasted.

[yankeeno7]

I used to have a Ruth in a Red Sox uniform and then also had a Marilyn Monroe professional photograph (with not much clothes on).

I dont know enough about original negatives and was weary of the legitimacy of them being original so I sold them about 7-8 years ago.