As a follow up to my previous post, I went to the REA auction and looked at their photos. One I pulled up in a PSA/DNA holder and identified as probably trimmed. I then read the description, and REA identified it as "slightly trimmed." I look at other lots and there were a bunch of PSA/DNA holdered photos they also described as trimmed. So, to their credit, REA appears to know about and look for this.
Also, this post isn't a criticism of PSA/DNA's authentication or holdering of those photos, as they are just authenticating the photos and not condition grading them.
On a personal note, the recent trimming of these photos to give them sharp edges and borders to a degree ruins the photos in my aesthetic and photo-historian experience. As a longtime photo historian and former collector who knows what old photos are supposed to look like, it's comparable to having a vintage black ballpoint 1970 New York Mets signed baseball then getting Jerry Koosman to sign his name to it in 2020 in blue sharpie. Its sticks out like an ugly sore thumb and you can't help but grimace each time you look at the photo. Not only is the trimming usually pretty obvious and obviously artificial, but they are usually cutting away part of the image. Since there is absolutely nothing errant about rough edges to a photograph, and PSA/DNA doesn't even give a condition grade, giving the photos these artificial sharp edges and corners is completely pointless.
Maybe twenty years ago, I wrote I believe the first short guides to news photos (literally a stapled pamphlet from my home computer printer), and one of the things I wrote was (paraphrase) "If a 70 or 80-year-old news photo has razor sharp edges and corners, it's most probably either a modern reprint or has been trimmed." An interviewer later asked me why I wrote that, and I said that almost no unaltered news photos that old or older are without edge wear and damage. Perfect edges and corners on antique news photos don't look right, not unlike a game used football jersey that looks as if it was never worn.
Last edited by drcy; 12-12-2020 at 02:13 AM.
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12-11-2020, 09:32 PM
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