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Originally Posted by Franek Grabowski
If a photo may reach over 1000 EUR, it becomes just an easy money. There are tons of fakes of German memorabilia like insignia or camouflaged uniforms, so why not to make photos, which are much easier in production and much more profitable?
BTW
A print currently taken from an original negative - what is it - original or copy?
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Hi Ed, hi Franek, hi John
we all saw lot's of photos at ebay which reached prices between 100 and
1000 Eur. Because of this we have so much fakes. Some peole try to
make the same profites. I want to give some thoughts.
In the 1950s and 60s lot's of collectors of German militaria wanted to own
original items of WW II. Tons of material was destroyed and the demand
for original memorabilia became bigger and bigger.
The first good quality copies were made in this time, some years after
WW II. Today you can buy perfect medals and badges. It's a really big
business.
Thousands of collectors want to own a Knight's cross or cuff titles of
XX etc. And original photos of German planes. That's fact. I know a
well known trader of militaria in Germany who produced helmets in mass!
Publishers make photos of his great collection of German steel helmets -
some with very interesting camo - most of them are fakes! Or they buy
old binoculars, leather straps, belts and stuff like that to sign them
with old original WH stamps. All of these items are fakes. Some years ago
I became a offering of German medals. I contacted 3 of the best know
German traders of militaria: The first said the medals were good, another
one said they were fakes, the 3rd was not interested in them. I hope you
understand that I won't tell their names here.
Some years ago photos and documents became more and more interesting
for hundreds of collectors and publishers worldwide. The prices at ebay
exploded! It's a hard to get new unknown photos. Sometimes you have
luck, mostly not. But I want to answer your question, Franek: "A print
currently taken from an original negative - what is it - original or copy?"
On the one hand we can say that every copy of an original negative is a
original photo. But on the other hand most collectors define only wartime
photos until 1945 as original photos. You can see differences between the
paper and, very important, the chemicals of photographic laboratory. The
surface of the photos is different and you can feel and see if a photo is
a fake made with old paper for example.
Now I want to find an end, I hope you are not bored now...