12 replies to this topic

[Sportfisher18]

This is my first post on this forum, so if I have posted this in the wrong section then please just let me know! Thanks
I recently found 35 photos from ww1 at a garage sale. The elderly gentleman that I bought them from was a demolition contractor somewhere in the NE US, and would always go through the buildings before he destroyed them. He said that he found these pictures all together with the descriptions attached. They are quite large.. Maybe 11x14 or so. I cannot measure them for sure because I am in college, and the pictures are back at home. I did however take pictures of a few of them. It says on them that they were taken by or published by Underwood & Underwood, and there is something about Eliot service co.

My questions are:
Does anyone recognize these photos? are they rare/ one of a kind?

What might the collectability of them be?

Any suggestions on the best way to preserve them? they are currently in quite good condition, and I would like to keep them that way.

Thank you

[munster]

Hi and welcome interesting pics i have never seen the first one for sure,the naval one i dont know.From these two i would say they are not common.Be good to see the others.john

[centurion]

First one looks as if it was used in a Liberty Bond Rally. Interestingly the Lewis gun is on an AA mounting.

[Sportfisher18]

Thanks for the feedback! Like I said these are the only pics of the actual pictures that I have because they are at my parents house at the moment. But I do have a concern that a forum member brought up to me in an email. He said that he did not recognize the images, and they do have the potential to be rare/valuable, but by me posting the pictures on the internet, it makes them less rare. Will the fact that I am just posting crude pictures of the real pictures indeed lower the potential value of them? Also I am curious, how much would yall guess these might go for? (ballpark estimate) Each photo has its own caption, and most are in very good condition... With the exception of a couple of General Pershing recieving a medal from the french president i believe, and another of him inspecting troops.  Thank you for any feedback!

[ph0ebus]

The value will certainly be in the originals, rather than copies grabbed off the internet.  Digital copies posted online might affect the relative scarcity of the image but original items are original items.  Just think about the Mona Lisa!  

I honestly could not tell you how rare or not these are but if as was suggested they were used or handed out at rallies or published then they might not be so rare after all, but someone may know better.  I would wager these have been published given the captioning but only digging into the archives might tell you that.

-Daniel

[themonsstar]

I do not think you are sat on top of a goldmine, I'll be very surprised if you got more then a couple of pound/dollars per each picture. I suspect one of the big newspaper photographers took the photographs so they will be out there somewhere.I also suspect anyone with a good collection of American books or magazines on the First World War would easily find the photographs. They also don't look as if they're in the best of conditions.

And if that's all you've come on here for, just to see how much the photographs are worth,well, best of luck with your research.

[centurion]

Pondering on it they remind me of large blow ups used by newspaper and magazine publishers to display in distributor's windows to encourage sales. Way back in my management consultancy days I did a contract for Mirror Group Newspapers (pre Captain Bob) and they were just stopping doing them then (1970s). So I think you've found the 1919 equivalent.

BTW don't worry about Themonsstar - his gruel was probably cold this morning or something else upset him. A good many members started by wondering what they'd found in an attic, basement, garage or the like and wondering if it was worth anything.

[Sportfisher18]

Thanks! And Ph0bus, do you know of any online archives that I could search to find out information about these photos? They really do intrigue me, so I started looking up things about Underwood & Underwood, and it seems that they mostly did stereoscopic photography, and I didn't find any of their WW1 pics online... they were mostly of domestic scenery and things of that nature.

[ph0ebus]

I would start with Great War era free books via Google that cover the subjects in the photos, and see what turns up.  Maybe even google the captions...you never know.

Happy hunting!

Daniel

[centurion]

Sportfisher18, on 10 February 2012 - 09:34 PM, said:

Thanks! And Ph0bus, do you know of any online archives that I could search to find out information about these photos? They really do intrigue me, so I started looking up things about Underwood & Underwood, and it seems that they mostly did stereoscopic photography, .

This is incorrect - J & T Underwood (sometimes incorrectly called Underwood  & Underwood) were Birmingham (England not Alabama) based camera manufacturers not photographers. They made very high quality field cameras (often tailored to the customer's requirements) at the end of the 19th century. They did however make a more portable camera called the  Instanto often used by journalists. This came in full, half and quarter plate sizes and was first produced in 1896. There was a stereo version of this camera called (unoriginally) The Stereograph with side by side lenses also produced in 1896.  Underwood cameras were very expensive and of very high quality. Underwood and Underwood usually refers to the camera not the photographer. Now if you can get a J & T Underwood Camera in perfect condition you are probably looking at well over $500 and up to $1,000 for the Stereograph camera. I think they had ceased production before 1914 but because of the very high quality were still used by professionals for some time.

[npm]

Maybe not so rare:

Quote

Underwood & Underwood was among the most prolific vendors of Great War photographs of all kinds. Underwood stereograph sets were published in sizes of 36, 48, 100, 200, and 300 cards; 100-card sets appear to have been the most common size. The larger sets probably were not produced until 1917. Since Underwood sets rarely used sequence numbers, sets cannot be reconstructed from single stereographs in the same manner as Keystone sets. Cards can, however, be dated using subject matter, markings, and image numbers. In turn, sets can be dated by their relative proportions of various images.

More info: http://www.greatwar-...U.htm  It's quite an interesting site

[centurion]

So two different pairs of Underwoods on either side of the Atlantic - how confusing. I wonder if the American Underwoods used a British Underwood stereograph camera?

[Sportfisher18]

Thanks NPM, way to track down the archives! I was looking through them, and unfortunately the numbers from http://www.greatwar-photos.org/UU.htm for the photos didn't match up with the numbers that the photos were stored under on the UCR database. For example, there was only one photo of the "Russian dead on Eastern Front", and its number was 13821, but when I typed that number into the UCR database, I got a stereoscopic picture of what looks like an industrial loom... I will keep looking into the database, as I'm sure they're on there somewhere.

One more question: If I do decide to sell these photos, would it be best to sell them on ebay, this forum, a gun show? What would yall recommend? Thanks again!