Ansel Adams Negatives found, worth 200 million

[Hornius Emeritus]

I love stories like this. Guy finds negatives in garage sale, pays less than 100 bucks for them. After authentication, turns out they are worth 200 million dollars.

The Link

 

[general35]

i wonder how much my photos of yosemite are?

 

[TexasGolf]

 

[Hornin Hong Kong]

What is wrong with the world. Why does everyone lie in such a consistent manner. President Lies, Congress Lies, Celebrities Lie, Journalists Lie.

So this guy finds something - independent examiners say they are real, the ansel family says they are fake. It's like clockwork.

Why can't they just say "congratulations"

I dont think the world cares if you lie anymore.

Of course I live in China where it's soically aeptable to lie in every circumstance, including business.

 

[huisache]

Anybody have any thoughts on why they are so pricey? They are negatives, not prints by Adams. If I run a print from them I am not doing it the same way Adams would, so why are they worth so much? You could run thousands off those plates.

A friend has a Moonrise that Adams printed for him when he was taking a seminar from the guy forty years ago. It is valued at a few hundred thousand. If one of the curators at the museum that holds the negative ran one now it would not be worth all that much.

So why is this collection so valuable?

Also, why are these photos so dark? Adams' best work is much lighter than these. I read his memoirs recently and he talks about the stuff lost in the fire but there are other photos he took at the same time and earlier and they are not dark like this.

Just curious. If anybody has any suggestions, I would like to hear them.

 

[TigerPride]

And in ******* Fresno..................

 

[bierce]

These negatives were reported in October, 2009. This article has some more information and theories about the negatives.

The Link

Earlier this year, Adams' son was in ltitigation with the Fresno Museum. The Museum was closing and wanted to sell off collections to cover debts. The Adams family insisted the photos were conditionally donated for public display only. They settled with the museum returning the photos but being given other photos by the family to sell.

The Link

 

[huisache]

The photos are of a very high quality in terms of composition and Adams knew Yosemite as well as anyone in the '20s==his wife's father ran a photo shop there and Adams sspent most of his summers there.

Patrick Alt's point about there being nobody else doing work of that quality at the time is true in so far as Yosemite is concerned. Even Adams admitted Edward Weston was a superior photographer but he was not associated with this kind of landscape.

I met Alt some years ago when he repaired and restored an 8x20 banquet camera for me. He is as knowledgable as anyone in the field when it comes to view cameras and I would trust his judgment in the matter.