1914 Babe Ruth M. Lantern Slide ?

[The Owner 3]

I used a 40x zoom magnifying glass to see if there was halftoning in the image that would be present if it were a copied print. In other words, varying sizes of ink dots in a pattern. I didn’t see halftoning, but something closer to film grain, which isn’t in a pattern.

I’ve used this on other black and white photos that are reproduced prints and you can easily see halftoning in them. I’ve used it on other black and white prints that I know are type 1 from the original negative and see only film grain and no halftoning.

If you ever want to have the time of your life, get yourself a 40x zoom magnifying glass. They’re like $5 on Amazon, but they’ll change your life.

Anyway, I was glad to see there were no pattern dots or halftoning in the magic lantern slide.

[GKreindler]

The original 4" x 5" glass plate negative of this Ruth image resides in the collection of the Chicago History Museum. If I remember correctly, it's from 1917. You'll notice the same markings on the top of the image.



I can't speak towards the legitimacy of the slides as originals, but I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable labeling them as such.

Graig

[The Owner 3]

Thanks GK. Yeah, I saw that one too and I did see that it's from 1917. Trust me, I'm not labeling this as anything until I know for sure what it is exactly. Don't worry, this is not going back on eBay. If it's researched and found to be from the era, I'm keeping it. If it's researched and found to be completely fake and made in a basement, I'm keeping it. It's in good hands as far as not trying to pull one over on anyone.

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by GKreindler

The original 4" x 5" glass plate negative of this Ruth image resides in the collection of the Chicago History Museum. If I remember correctly, it's from 1917. You'll notice the same markings on the top of the image.



I can't speak towards the legitimacy of the slides as originals, but I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable labeling them as such.

Graig

I agree with Greig,

Everything about this piece screams “fake” to me. The fact that it looks so amateurishly done, no period label, wrong date to inhance value, and to top it all off they left the photographers notations and writing from the negative on the finished piece. If you were making this to sell or for some other purpose they would have done a good job doing so and nobody would leave the random marks at the top of that photo, those would have been the first things cropped out of that photo.

Regardless of what it looks like under a microscope it doesn’t pass the initial eye test of something done during that period.

[packs]

Every lantern slide I've ever seen is as sharp as you would expect from a negative. You can plainly tell that the slide in question has a grainy, fuzzy image indicative of a copy.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

I agree with Greig,

Everything about this piece screams “fake” to me. The fact that it looks so amateurishly done, no period label, wrong date to inhance value, and to top it all off they left the photographers notations and writing from the negative on the finished piece. If you were making this to sell or for some other purpose they would have done a good job doing so and nobody would leave the random marks at the top of that photo, those would have been the first things cropped out of that photo.

Regardless of what it looks like under a microscope it doesn’t pass the initial eye test of something done during that period.

You haven't seen many lantern slides have you?

They can be totally original and also totally shoddy work.

A lot of what's put there was made by companies like keystone, and they're very professionally done, often for educational use. The rest vary a lot in quality. Everything from nicely produced to just an image taped between glass. I've seen some labeled with nothing more than pencil and some cloth tape. Some not labeled at all. Those were usually done from someone's own photos either to have slides to show, or for a talk about something at a club or church function.


As far as I know they're all copies, though I suppose some amateur ones could be from an original negative reverse processed.

[Michael B]

I picked up a dozen magic lantern slides in September that are all Olympic related. I did not check them all, but the ones I did were produced by E.R. Deats of 10 S. 18th St., Philadelphia. Many of them were done for the Philadelphia Inter-State Dairy Council. These were colorized photos and it appears that they took a photo of a photo as the quality is not the greatest with dust marks and other flaws. These were done in the late 1940's as they show the 1936 and 1948 Olympics. They were most like done for educational displays as mentioned by Steve. With all of the ones I own you can tell that they were professionally created as the black masking holding the negative is neatly done and the labels are period. Those are some of the things I would look for in assessing one.

[The Owner 3]

Thanks all! Here are some pics, and some are taken from taking a picture inside the 40x zoom magnifier. These still don't quite capture it. There seems to be a transparent film within the glass slides, which I've researched was another technique used to make these. The zoom shows the texture of the transparent piece, and you'll notice, no dots in a pattern or halftone dots. It may look a little like it, but that's the texture of the transparency within the glass. It does seem plausible that this is a pic of a pic because it isn't as sharp as an original, but it still may be from the era. Next I'll show what a half tone picture looks like in a 40x zoom lens.

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[The Owner 3]

I printed this from the pic that's been thrown around on this post. If someone was trying to fake the glass lantern, they would have to use the one found on the web. When printed, it would look like this - halftone dots to make up the image. The initial image looks better, but when you zoom in, here's what you see.

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