Original Negative collectors. Show us your 1 of 1 negatives or transparencies.

[Forever Young]

I’ll kick it off with l, arguably, the best one I own. It is the original, 1 of 1 glass plate negative of Captain Lou in college(1923).

As a photography fan, I believe there is still a huge upside as far as investment of original photos. Although on the radar, they are still undervalued IMO. Mostly because there is a relatively small group of collectors(vs say cards). I believe when PSA implements a registry of any kind, the fireworks will fly. They are on their way….

The negatives, however, are further back. They are in their infant, infancy. they are as rare as it gets for any one image- 1 of 1. They produce the highest end prints(IF in good shape). And they are totally untapped as it relates to mainstream hobby collecting and authentication. There is a huge opportunity for collectors/investors as well as an authentication outfit.
Negatives are just so cool and would love to see others post here who also enjoy them. I am totally hooked and believe in them. They are not for the faint of heart. However, if you start, it’s hard to stop. ��. They are historical relics and it’s amazing to say.. “i own the actually original, 1 of 1 negative of that image. “ “ I am going to start my own Archive.” I think the sky is the limit.

I know I know.. they are hard to display and it is scary that they might break. Anything else? ��
I will be making 1 of 1 very high end prints of each of my best pieces which i will display. Also, i have looked into getting dupes made of the originals just for displaying purposes along with the photo(keep the original locked away). This can be done at every medium.. glass, acetate, slides etc.

Anyone else love abs collect this stuff? If so, would love to hear your thoughts and see your examples. Let’s have some fun(if you want) and put funny watermarks on but still allow the beautiful image to be appreciated. I will start on my following examples.

As always, excuse and autocorrects /fat fingers as I’m on the fly on my phone.

[bgar3]

Ben, I agree with how neat these are. I no longer have any of my early glass ones, but I do have several slides and negatives of Ashburn, which I will try to figure out how to post so they can be seen. Not Gehrig, but I like them for the reasons you have stated.

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by bgar3

Ben, I agree with how neat these are. I no longer have any of my early glass ones, but I do have several slides and negatives of Ashburn, which I will try to figure out how to post so they can be seen. Not Gehrig, but I like them for the reasons you have stated.

I love that you have samples in your Ashburn Collection. I Would love to see them.

[bgar3]

Ben, these are the best I can do for now, I just use my camera phone. My favorite is the one with the letter and folder, with rookie of the year Id.
Other than Ashburn, my interests are in pre 1880 photos, and I do not have negatives from that time.

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by bgar3

Ben, these are the best I can do for now, I just use my camera phone. My favorite is the one with the letter and folder, with rookie of the year Id.
Other than Ashburn, my interests are in pre 1880 photos, and I do not have negatives from that time.

I can see why that is your favorite; on top of having the sleeve and wonderful description, the composition seems amazing. Would love to see the positive scans when you have time. 1880- you are greet not of the faint of heart. Yku have a link to your collection?

[71buc]

Hi Ben, great thread! Lots of Beautiful stuff love the Ashburn and that Gehrig is ridiculous. Although I have a few large format negatives of Banks and Jackie Robinson I’m sure no one is surprised to learn that my favorites are my 35mm original slide portraits of Clemente.

[Lucas00]

Couple of my Nellie fox negatives.
One with the .45s in the classic kneeling bat across the body pose
And one with the '65 MVP Zoilo Versalles

[T206Jim]

Ben, how many game action shots of Matty exist? Bain to boot!

matty-negative1.jpg
Bain-negatives-watermarked.jpg

[PSACJ]

1917 Chief Meyers / Conlon Glass Negative

[Snapolit1]

Awesome stuff. I almost pulled the trigger recently and bought a real nice one, but was wondering how in fact you know you are getting the original 1/1 negative and not a copy negative sometime later. Maybe a simple explanation I'm missing.

[Lordstan]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Awesome stuff. I almost pulled the trigger recently and bought a real nice one, but was wondering how in fact you know you are getting the original 1/1 negative and not a copy negative sometime later. Maybe a simple explanation I'm missing.

Perhaps one of the biggest tells is the quality of the image the negative produces. A photo from an original negative should be crystal clear and razor sharp in contrast, IMO.

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Awesome stuff. I almost pulled the trigger recently and bought a real nice one, but was wondering how in fact you know you are getting the original 1/1 negative and not a copy negative sometime later. Maybe a simple explanation I'm missing.

Steve,

Is there an easy explanation for anything anymore?
“if it were easy, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great”!
Jimmy Dugan

Mark pointed out clarity.. obviously if you had a dupe and a original to compare prints against each other, this could work. Unfortunately, there are some really bad photos out there that were shot out of focus. Out of focus or not, the original would be an original. Ps: mark.. those are great Gehrig Original Negs.

Several quick points:

1) Obviously the film or medium has to be period.

2) A lot of the information comes around the edges. For example, if the negative itself(not the positive) has black borders all around it, that would be cause for concern. Black makes white .. so if was a photo of a photo, that could mean it prob was a dupe from a photo border.

3) provenance- love that Koufax Scott. Although 35mm can be removed and reholdered- the fixings on the mount is a good start. The other info is on the neg edge inside. Plus.. this came from Hyee so… money in the bank.

There are several examples posted here that i hate to say are not original. They are dupes. Here are a couple of the examples.

A) n. Fox
Attached is the positive. You can see the photo placed on a drafting table. It was then shot from a camera. It is a photo of a photo.

B) the 1927 Yankees


This is also a dupe -neg. it is a photo of a underwood and Underwood photo. Not a photo taken of the team itself. Notice how the white bordersfrom the photo look on the dupe negative(black). You can even see some waviness of the photo itself on the positive.

The point is, there are ways to tell. Before buying, you always need to get a picture of the negative itself as if you were holding in your hand. That way you can see the edges etc. Negatives could def be added to an authentication company’s money making list. They are amazing 1 of 1 artifacts that have huge potential. In the meantime, I’ll buy and build my personal archive.

On phone again so sorry if stuff is lost in translation or autocorrected wrongly. Is that an oxymoron?

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by T206Jim

Ben, how many game action shots of Matty exist? Bain to boot!

Attachment 507388
Attachment 507385

Jim,

Nothing like this one. What an amazing shot!

Andy, that conlon glass i was underbidder on I believe on eBay awhile back? It was early on when lelands was selling so I didn’t set snipe high enough. I think I got pissy and won a lefty O in the same night(conlon glass) for a bunch. 😂 The glass is my favorite.

Sean.. all those glass blacksox?

[Snapolit1]

Ben - thanks for the amazing insights. Much appreciated. Exactly the sort of information I was completely lacking.

You heading east in July?

Originally Posted by Forever Young

Jim,

Nothing like this one. What an amazing shot!

Andy, that conlon glass i was underbidder on I believe on eBay awhile back? It was early on when lelands was selling so I didn’t set snipe high enough. I think I got pissy and won a lefty O in the same night(conlon glass) for a bunch. 😂 The glass is my favorite.

Sean.. all those glass blacksox?

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Ben - thanks for the amazing insights. Much appreciated. Exactly the sort of information I was completely lacking.

You heading east in July?

You betcha! Def should catch up if you’re going.

[PSACJ]

Originally Posted by Forever Young

Jim,

Nothing like this one. What an amazing shot!

Andy, that conlon glass i was underbidder on I believe on eBay awhile back? It was early on when lelands was selling so I didn’t set snipe high enough. I think I got pissy and won a lefty O in the same night(conlon glass) for a bunch. 😂 The glass is my favorite.

Sean.. all those glass blacksox?

@ Forever Young: That Chief Meyers is a Cracker Jack Player and the image is from the 1910’s and in action which is exactly what I collect. I was super happy to have won it!⚾️

[LOUCARDFAN]

Great thread and lots of great negatives already shown. Here is my favorite 1 of 1 original negative from my collection. Circa 1910 Brown Bros. Ty Cobb original 5x7 glass negative. I absolutely love this image.

[Lordstan]

I have a few Gehrig negatives as well. Photos are composites as my scanner cannot scan 5x 7 negatives in one shot.

1930's Burke negative


1930's negative Burke also




This the envelope with the date the photos were taken and the photos from the 4 negatives from that shoot that are in the sleeve


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