Recent Henry Yee eBay auction questions

[obcbeatle]

I recently received an email from Net54 or a Net54 member regarding the Henry Yee eBay auctions this week. I don't collect old photo's per se but took a peek at most of the photo's, photo slides and photo negatives in Yee's auction and was astounded at the quantity of nice photo's being auctioned, and also the prices being paid for these photo's! My questions are:

1) Is there a good online resource for better understanding the hobby of vintage baseball photo collecting? I saw the Fogel/Yee book on Amazon but it's over $40 dollars and I'm not sure I'm ready to fork over that amount yet since I'm just beginning my research into this area of collecting.

2) The prices I saw paid for some of Yee's slides and negatives seemed awfully high to me. Do/can buyers turn around and reproduce photo's for re-sale from these slides/negatives? It looked like most of the slides were originally from famous photographers. I'm just curious because I have an old slide projector and thought I would bid on a few slides only to find out that they were being bought at much higher prices than I expected.

3) Is vintage sports photo collecting increasing dramatically as a hobby? I saw an online PSA article that implied that it is, but PSA is in the business of trying to authenticate sports memoribilia. So I suppose it was a bit of a biased article.

I've been collecting baseball cards for many years and only have a couple vintage baseball photo's. I really like the old photo's, but I'm not sure I'm ready to add them to my collecting habit just yet ... thus all my questions. Any comments appreciated.Thanks!

[bcbgcbrcb]

I would definitely recommend shelling out the $40 or so and buying the book. This area of the hobby has certainly grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years. It will probably never be as popular as cards but the key is: how much more room for growth is there?

[GKreindler]

If you're looking at getting into photos for investment purposes, then I agree with what Phil said - I just don't think that they're many (if any) things in the hobby that will unseat the popularity and collectibility of cards. I still feel that photos are still in their infancy stages in that regard, but with major auction houses and people like John Rogers thrusting them into the spotlight, I can imagine that more and more people will start to take that corner of the hobby more seriously. Whether or not that'll effect prices positively or negatively, it's really hard to say.

However, if you're into the whole thing just because you love the aesthetics of photography, then I think it's a great time to be getting into the medium.

Regardless, the $40 should DEFINITELY be spent on Henry and Marshall's book, as should the $20 for Cycleback's publication. Both have a wealth of knowledge that will inspire you. And I can say that without a doubt, this board is a perfect place for people to fuel that hunger for photography.

Enjoy!

Graig

[GKreindler]

...and Mark and I like echoing each other!

http://www.amazon.com/Judging-Authen.../dp/1257018965

[Lordstan]

Hey Now!
You're echoing me. echoing me. echoing me.

[collectbaseball]

Where can you even get it for $40? Every time I look for it, it's nearly a hundred bucks. I even asked Mr. Yee if he had any extra copies I could buy and he doesn't

[travrosty]

if you buy a photo, you cant turn around and reprint, sell copies because you dont own the copyright to do so, the photographer does, so unless you buy it with the reproduction rights from the photographer, it is for your own personal use only. now i suppose some people do anyway, but technically they are not allowed to sell prints.

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by collectbaseball

Where can you even get it for $40? Every time I look for it, it's nearly a hundred bucks. I even asked Mr. Yee if he had any extra copies I could buy and he doesn't

Thanks for all the replies and info. The Fogel/Yee book was on Amazon (used) earlier today ... and now I see it's gone (I assume sold today). Anyway ... I'll keep an eye out for it again on Amazon or Abe books for hopefully < $50 ... I've a lot to learn about collecting baseball and sports photo's. In fact ... I'd like to collect photo's of popular movie and music stars from the 50's/60's too, but then I don't have very deep pockets ... so probably just a dream :-) I did just read about John Rogers and checked out his eBay store. Thanks again for the info!

[Lordstan]

1) Is there a good online resource for better understanding the hobby of vintage baseball photo collecting? I saw the Fogel/Yee book on Amazon but it's over $40 dollars and I'm not sure I'm ready to fork over that amount yet since I'm just beginning my research into this area of collecting.

Fork over the money. This is one of the two best resources for understanding photographs. The other in an online? book written by our own Dr David Cycleback. Does anyone have the link? I can't find it.

2) The prices I saw paid for some of Yee's slides and negatives seemed awfully high to me. Do/can buyers turn around and reproduce photo's for re-sale from these slides/negatives? It looked like most of the slides were originally from famous photographers. I'm just curious because I have an old slide projector and thought I would bid on a few slides only to find out that they were being bought at much higher prices than I expected.

Within the photography category, negatives are a new field of interest, but it appears people certainly are interested. There is another thread speaking about image rights regarding negatives. If you search, it will answer your questions.

3) Is vintage sports photo collecting increasing dramatically as a hobby? I saw an online PSA article that implied that it is, but PSA is in the business of trying to authenticate sports memoribilia. So I suppose it was a bit of a biased article.

Recently this category of collectibles has shot up. They're visually attractive, easy to both store and display, and they can be very hard to get(especially if you're looking for a specific pose/subject).

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by Lordstan

1) Is there a good online resource for better understanding the hobby of vintage baseball photo collecting? I saw the Fogel/Yee book on Amazon but it's over $40 dollars and I'm not sure I'm ready to fork over that amount yet since I'm just beginning my research into this area of collecting.

Fork over the money. This is one of the two best resources for understanding photographs. The other in an online? book written by our own Dr David Cycleback. Does anyone have the link? I can't find it.

2) The prices I saw paid for some of Yee's slides and negatives seemed awfully high to me. Do/can buyers turn around and reproduce photo's for re-sale from these slides/negatives? It looked like most of the slides were originally from famous photographers. I'm just curious because I have an old slide projector and thought I would bid on a few slides only to find out that they were being bought at much higher prices than I expected.

Within the photography category, negatives are a new field of interest, but it appears people certainly are interested. There is another thread speaking about image rights regarding negatives. If you search, it will answer your questions.

3) Is vintage sports photo collecting increasing dramatically as a hobby? I saw an online PSA article that implied that it is, but PSA is in the business of trying to authenticate sports memoribilia. So I suppose it was a bit of a biased article.

Recently this category of collectibles has shot up. They're visually attractive, easy to both store and display, and they can be very hard to get(especially if you're looking for a specific pose/subject).

Here is the link to David's web site. He has a few articles on line about photography & judging authenticity, etc.::>

http://www.cycleback.com/

ZWheat

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

Here is the link to David's web site. He has a few articles on line about photography & judging authenticity, etc.::>

http://www.cycleback.com/

ZWheat

Yup, with respect to the Yee/Fogel book, David's reference guides were always my first fallback when I started getting into photos over a dozen years ago or so. They are required reading for any photo collector.

I'm not a big fan of the Type Classification system that Yee and Fogel tout in their book, but it's worth whatever it costs to obtain a copy, just for the exhaustive research they put into back stamps and the history of each news organization.

[billyb]

ZWheat,
Thank You, I have read parts of David's site, and just read about authenticating, which I have not read before.
Judging the authentication, with no stamps is not easy, but I know the history of the above photo. Judging what David says, and the clarity, and what I know about the photo, it is a type one photo.
That was a question of mine, is this photo a type one, or just an unknown photo. But without the backing, it still hurts the value.
One of these days, this photo will go up for sale, and somebody will get a great photo for a good price.

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

Here is the link to David's web site. He has a few articles on line about photography & judging authenticity, etc.::>

http://www.cycleback.com/

ZWheat

Thanks for sharing this link. Lots of good information like the names of the most common U.S. news and photo services, ACME, etc. In conjunction with the YouTube video about the wire services that Lance shared I've learned a lot. If fact, I bought my first wire photo and a negative last night on eBay. Can't wait till they arrive! Which leads me to a question ... does the Cycleback book(s) or Fogel/Yee book cover slides, negatives and transparencies? The transparencies and negatives in the last Yee auction really caught my eye. There were some color SF Giants slide transparencies that I bid way too low on that were beautiful (Mays/Cepeda ...). I lived in SF from 1965-1971 and saw Mays, McCovey et al at "The Stick" many times. So when I saw those slides and remembered I had a slide projector I did a quick bid on a few of those Yee slides. Anyway ... I was just wondering if the Cycleback and Fogel/Yee books covered that type of film format? I've been Googling today to find out about how to deal with negatives and slides these days (digital scanning, etc.) because I also got out some of my old family photo's and found some negatives. So my interest is piqued :-) Thanks again for sharing. This board/thread is full of a lot of expertise!

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by obcbeatle

Which leads me to a question ... does the Cycleback book(s) or Fogel/Yee book cover slides, negatives and transparencies?

The Fogel/Yee book has a brief section on the various photographic processes and mentions transparencies, slides (which are transparencies mounted in a cardboard frame), and negatives, though usually only circumstantially as it discusses the prints produced from them. If I remember correctly, some of David's writings go into a little more detail, as far as how they are produced, but I can't recall offhand if that material is online or in one of his books (or both).

If you're talking about identifying who/where/when an image came from by looking at the negative or transparency, I don't recall ever seeing much on that. Some photographers will make notations directly on the image, some along the edge of the negative, and some even stamp a logo onto the negative so that it shows on the printed image. In most cases that I've seen though, it's either blatantly obvious (as in a signature or stamped logo), or impossible (as in simple block lettering identifying the subject) to tell who the photographer was based only on markings on the negative.

The one exception that comes to mind is George Burke, who used a very specific file coding with his negatives that referred to a combination of league, team, and player codes to give some organization to his files. In that case, you can match up the coding to the catalog listings of his player photos to either determine who the player is (if you know it's a Burke photo) or if it is actually a Burke photo (if the player depicted matches the catalog coding for that player). Other photographers may have done something similar that I am not aware of, but their coding would have been a different "system," and I don't recall ever reading it being addressed anywhere.

I've read a few websites and blogs aimed more at photographers or people researching family histories that had a usable tip here and there, but nothing comprehensive dealing with dating or identifying negatives or transparencies that I can recall (though I would welcome such a resource if anyone else knows of one).

[billyb]

Originally Posted by obcbeatle

Thanks for sharing this link. Lots of good information like the names of the most common U.S. news and photo services, ACME, etc. In conjunction with the YouTube video about the wire services that Lance shared I've learned a lot. If fact, I bought my first wire photo and a negative last night on eBay. Can't wait till they arrive! Which leads me to a question ... does the Cycleback book(s) or Fogel/Yee book cover slides, negatives and transparencies? The transparencies and negatives in the last Yee auction really caught my eye. There were some color SF Giants slide transparencies that I bid way too low on that were beautiful (Mays/Cepeda ...). I lived in SF from 1965-1971 and saw Mays, McCovey et al at "The Stick" many times. So when I saw those slides and remembered I had a slide projector I did a quick bid on a few of those Yee slides. Anyway ... I was just wondering if the Cycleback and Fogel/Yee books covered that type of film format? I've been Googling today to find out about how to deal with negatives and slides these days (digital scanning, etc.) because I also got out some of my old family photo's and found some negatives. So my interest is piqued :-) Thanks again for sharing. This board/thread is full of a lot of expertise!

OCB,
What a great educational thread you started. Any newby into Sports photography collecting can read your thread and obtain a boat load of information. Good job, and thank you.

Billyb

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by billyb

OCB,
What a great educational thread you started. Any newby into Sports photography collecting can read your thread and obtain a boat load of information. Good job, and thank you.

Billyb

Thanks Billyb ... I'm sure learning a lot from this thread too. So nice to have people willing to share their thoughts on a part of the hobby that I'm not as familiar with as collecting baseball cards. I think collecting old sports (and maybe movie/music star) photo's will be a new hobby of mine. The thing I find most fascinating is the quantity and variation of photographs between 1900 and the early 1960's (my main era of interest) that are available. Kind of intimidating really. But there are so many beautiful photographs, poses, etc. ... many of which I've never seen before ... and many I didn't even know existed because I was so implanted in the world of baseball cards. Anyway ... this sort of leads me to another question I forgot to ask in my last post ... are there any other photograph auctions like Henry Yee's (eBay or otherwise) that I should keep an eye out for in the future? I know Henry Yee has another one coming up this summer. Thanks again to everyone for their feedback!