REA's 1910 Cobb Sliding Photo LET THE BUYER BEWARE

[Snapolit1]

David, just a quick public thank you for your posts through the years on photos. You are a measured, thoughtful voice on these issues, and I am sure I speak for many board members in saying thank you for sharing your expertise and opinions on these issues. I always look forward to reading your posts and learning something.

Originally Posted by drcy

All areas have uncertainty. What matters is that experts correctly represent the uncertainty.

There is no area in memorabilia or physics or biology or art or astronomy or religion or economics where there is 100% certainty. The key is to say you don't know when you don't know, and to know when you don't know.

Also, your label shouldn't be more specific than your knowledge. Circa 1930, or "1930s" can be a correct label, where "1932" for the same thing wouldn't be.

As I said before, I don't have specific knowledge of Conlon's photos including what sizes he's used when, but a question shouldn't be just about the white borders but the white borders with the 8x10" size. Showing pre-1910 white-bordered photos certainly is relevant and informative, but ones that are smaller than 8x10" are not the same things. The 8x10" size is very relevant and should be sorted out, as an 8x10" white bordered photo is generally associated with later time periods.

I don't know the two-year window question necessarily has great relevance to the value of this photo. For example, if the photo turned out to be made in 1918, would that alter the hobby value? I don't know that it would. Two years always was and always will be just someone's arbitrary pick. There is no objective, exact definition for what is "original," and a historic photo doesn't have to be original to valuable. There are many other factors and qualities that go into value.

[drcy]

Thanks!

No system is perfect, and systems are continually being refined. The question is if PSA/DNA refines and correct things. I think there should be photos that they holder but without a type assigned. I believe PSA has said their system was designed for news photos and doesn't necessarily fit to some other photos.

Another issue is the graders couldn't have been unaware of the incongruity of their dating and the two-year window, but decided the photo should get a type 1 and "original" label anyway. That should be problematic to collectors if PSA applies that kind of situational fudging and disregard of their own rules in other areas, such as autographs, card grading and game-used.

However, my observation has been that PSA/DNA has been reliable in photo dating and authentication, and collectors should generally be confident in buying PSA/DNA authenticated photos.

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

David, just a quick public thank you for your posts through the years on photos. You are a measured, thoughtful voice on these issues, and I am sure I speak for many board members in saying thank you for sharing your expertise and opinions on these issues. I always look forward to reading your posts and learning something.

[SAllen2556]

Not sure where or when, but I found this once upon a time on some website. It appears to be the entire negative with a white border.

Cobb-sliding.jpg

[lumberjack]

This is a knockoff. You can see this print in one of the Conlon books done by the McCabes.
lumberjack

[TCMA]

If it helps, here's an example of the same Conlon photo created both with and without borders:

[Casey2296]

Who is that pictured Andrew?

[TCMA]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Who is that pictured Andrew?

Good question. I’ll see if I have that info.


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[Robbie]

The photo on the right (the one with the "clip marks" burned into the upper corners) looks like it's made from the original negative. The other photo (the one with the border) has less depth and definition, and is cropped differently.... and looks like it was made from a dupe neg or a secondary source.

Thank you for showing these photos side by side!

Originally Posted by TCMA

If it helps, here's an example of the same Conlon photo created both with and without borders:

[perezfan]

I was going to say the same, but you beat me to it!