REA's 1910 Cobb Sliding Photo LET THE BUYER BEWARE

[perezfan]

Interesting and informative observations... Have you reached out to REA?

Actually I would put the onus squarely on the shoulders of PSA (and not REA), if their "Type 1" assessment is off. Below is a key portion of REA's description of the Cobb photo...

"We were immediately struck by the clarity and condition of the photograph, but because there have been so many second-generation prints made of this photo (Cobb himself kept them on hand to honor requests from fans), we remained cautiously optimistic that we had, perhaps, uncovered an incredible original example of this famed photograph. After thorough examination by PSA/DNA experts, it was confirmed to be only the second-known original example and the finest of the two reviewed to date."

If PSA misdiagnosed this one, I would not be too surprised. There is often a blurry line between "types" with photos of this era. The white border is definitely present, and it sounds like your experience/knowledge base is just as advanced as PSAs. Third party authenticators have a lot of undue power and influence these days, with collectors putting so much blind reliance on their word.

Are there any confirmed examples of White Bordered Type 1 Conlons that date to the earlier teens? I must say that the clarity of the photo appears second-to-none... especially in regard to the exploding infield dirt and well defined detail of Cobb's face. Perhaps some of the other photo experts here can produce evidence or exemplars that will add value to the discussion. Fascinating topic, regardless!

[Bicem]

The clarity would be the same as a type one if printed off the original negative in 1915 or later. That's not the issue.

I've done a quick search of all Conlon photos that both RMY and Heritage have sold and I could not find an example of a Conlon stamped print that had borders that could also be attributed to pre-1915 based on a newspaper stamp or slug.

I'm not saying that proves anything, but if Dennis is correct the photo should be a type two by PSA's (arbitrary) definition (type one needs to be printed within two years of the time photo was taken).

[Michael B]

I did a quick check of some photos I have by George Grantham Bain, Paul Thompson and Edward Bushnell all from the same period. All the photos I have by them that I checked were track and field. I find that most of their early photos have no white margins. When they did a contact print from the glass plate negative they would occasionally keep a black margin (unexposed emulsion) which had the identity scratched into it. I did find two Paul Thompson photos, both 7x9, circa 1908-11, that had small white margins, but not very significant. Unfortunately with these full frame prints you do find a lot of small tears and bend on the corners. Fortunately, archival document repair tape which is essentially tissue paper, is great for fixing them.

No comment on the photo in question. Just an observation about other significant sports photographers of the period.

[BuzzD]

The borders observation is really helpful. I have a 1915 and 1916 with a border but none of the earlier have a white border. Good diagnostic for folks that have only limited experience with these prints.