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Old 02-22-2017, 08:25 AM
steve B steve B is offline
Steve Birmingham
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: eastern Mass.
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I'd say they have some value. How much is more for the guys that are more into photos. I think it would depend on the details of the photo itself. Like was it taken from a good close spot like a press photographers area or dugout, or from the bleachers? Ones taken from a distance are -to me anyway- pretty cool but usually aren't as valuable. Ones taken from a really good spot will usually show more detail and be more valuable. Being able to identify the event more closely would help.

I guess what to do with them depends more on what you want to do. Personally I'd keep them as a family heirloom. But not everyone has that sort of attachment to family stuff. And I also realize that the value would make a difference to most people.

Either way, get some proper archival storage stuff for them, and keep the original packaging as well.

Boring technical stuff below.

A couple ideas, if the color is still good they're probably Kodachrome, which will stay nice for a long time. The negatives will have that somewhere in the margins, and there's usually a datecode telling when the film was made. A good photo lab if you can find one will be able to make some nice prints from the original negatives.
If they're not Kodachrome but some other Kodak film then the color may eventually fade, typically for a positive image that means fading to red with a loss of detail. (Non Kodak films do that too, but almost all companies had something similar to Kodachrome. Just let me know the brand and whatever else it says in the margin and I can find out details from a film collecting friend of mine) If they're not Kodachrome and not faded it might be worth having duplicate negatives made. Again that's not hard for a good photo lab, and the new stuff should last quite a while. (Although probably not as long as Kodachrome, which should hold good color for as long as the plastic substrate lasts and beyond! )

Steve B
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