Difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Press Photos...

olsport · #1 07-11-2011, 09:35 AM

I in no way claim to be an expert in this field, but I have found that Type II or later wire photos have the caption written in the photo itself, vs a Type I that may or may not, have a glued captioned piece of paper attached to it.
Also, many TypeII's and later seem to have inferior clarity and quality. Many of the Type I's seem to be almost printed from the original negative.

thecatspajamas · #2 07-11-2011, 10:07 AM

olsport,
You've got a common mix-up in terminology there. A "wire photo" is a photo that was actually sent over the news wire and developed by the machinery on the other end. As you said, the caption for a wire photo is typically embedded in the image on the front (actually part of the image). The wire photo on the receiving end is considered a Type 3 photo if it is within the 2-year period, or a Type 4 if it's in a later period. As you said, the wire photo will almost always be of inferior quality to the original, though some still come out very nice.

The original photo on the sending end is not considered a "wire photo," though this is a common mistake. It could be called a "news photo" or "press photo," but the term "wire photo" should be reserved for photos that actually travelled over-the-wire and were produced by the machinery on the receiving end. You could say that all "wire photos" are also "news photos," but all "news photos" are not "wire photos."

The photo on the sending end would typically be a Type 1 or Type 2, and the one on the receiving end would be a Type 3 or Type 4.

Also, by definition, ALL Type 1 and Type 2 photos were printed from the original negative.

Drift · #3 04-25-2014, 08:59 AM

I thoroughly enjoy reading old threads like these.

I wanted to bring up a question on pricing of original type photographs.

With such variance in types how does one price a photo when considering a purchase?

Are major auction house sale results a good indicator of price?
If I were to buy a photo through Heritage auction house could I count on selling it for the same 5 years down the road?

With what I call "niche" categories of collecting I always find that a particular item can be sold multiple times throughout the years and the final sale prices can vary to a great degree. Does this seem to hold true for original type photo's?

Drift · #4 04-25-2014, 09:07 AM

One last question.

Approximately when did news agencies start stamping dates on the back of their photo's?

For the baseball photo's ive seen I found it common for photos Circa early 1900's to have their first stamp dated in the 1930s or 1940's. Could it mean this is a later type original? How would you try to date the photos type in such a case.

If anyone can direct me to some books that cover the subject i'd appreciate that.

JoeyF1981 · #5 04-25-2014, 11:57 AM

In some cases there are no type 1's known to exist of a certain photo so sometimes a type 2 what you have to settle with. I have some type 2's that have way better clarity than most of my type 1's. It all depends and like everyone said buy what you like. Theres alot of sellers out there who are representing their photos as type 1's but have not done the research or have a clue what to look for. My best advice is if you find a photo youre interested in post it here so we can help you out. The best book to buy is yee/fogels book for any information you need regarding stamps, paper and everything else.

prewarsports · #6 04-25-2014, 12:02 PM

Most dates on the backs of press photos are secondary file marks. Most of the issuing agencies did not date stamp their photos (except on the paper slug) which makes it tricky if those incriminating slugs happen to "fall off"

drcy · #7 04-25-2014, 12:08 PM

I've seen date stamps before the 1930s.

As far as pricing goes, it depends what you buy and what you pay. People overpay and underpay for photos, so I can't promise anything on a specific theoretical photo. If, in a bidding war, you pay $500 for a $50 photo, I'm certainly not going to guarantee it's worth $500 in five years. A sad fact of today's hobby is people shill their auctions, and prices are realized prices are too high right now. Show me a specific photo and I'll tell you if I think the price was good. Buy quality originals at good prices. Don't jump on bandwagons (as with everywhere else, the hobby has fads), buy quality, know quality. You learn quality and rarity and pricing by following auctions and looking at photos. It's not something you can learn in a five minute lesson.

I think some stuff goes too high these days, but I also see many quality photos that I think are good bargains today. Some old display photos and display composite photos I think are undervalued or at least at good fair prices. Don't look just at news photos-- look into cabinet cards, panoramas, early display photos, tintypes, etc. News photos are plentiful, while the other areas contain many rarities. I thought many photos in the Legendary Dreier auction were undervalued.

I think the majority of collectors are undereducated and myopic, and simply follow hobby trends and fads. There are rare items that are undervalued because the majority of collectors aren't educated or experienced enough to realize the rarity. Collectors don't get wealthy from artifact investments by following latest trends and fads, but by knowing buying quality and rarity before the rest of the hobby realizes the quality and rarity.

I do think, looking overall at all the photos and not zeroing on one or two, past auction house results are a fair indicator of price. As I said, a specific photo may have been bought at a bargain while another went too high, so look overall at all the photos.

My guide to photos pdf ebook (long download time)

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