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Huge collection of old vintage photo papers, thoughts on value?

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Sean

Sean

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I was given a lot of these by an old photographer around 23yrs ago, and they probably had these for many years before I got them. I'd be surprised if any of the paper could print. It seems to me, the value if any, may lie in the vintage boxes and envelopes? The opened boxes/envelopes are in an unknown state. There are some that are still factory sealed, some feel empty, some half empty. We are moving house soon and downsizing to simplify our lives (a small 1bd apartment), with little to no room for storage, so I am looking to figure out what to do with these or what the value might be. Maybe give the whole lot to an auction house or list the whole lot on the local auction site and whatever happens happens. Not sure!


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(I had trouble with the pics, all uploaded now)
 
The first question that comes to mind is: why did you wait 23 years?
 
miha said:
The first question that comes to mind is: why did you wait 23 years?
Click to expand...

They've been packed into a box in the garage and the usual 'life gets in the way'.
 
Sean said:
Maybe give the whole lot to an auction house or list the whole lot on the local auction site and whatever happens happens.
Click to expand...

OK, this is just a kind reminder that we try to keep anything that reads as a subtle 'can someone take this off my hands in exchange for some money' within the Classifieds section of our forum. You could consider posting an ad there, but please keep in mind it takes a (paid) Subscriber account to be able to post there.

Sean said:
(I had trouble with the pics, all uploaded now)
Click to expand...

That's OK; glad you've been able to work it out.




I could not resist, hehe.
Some of the paper you've got there will likely still print OK; for instance, I see some Agfa Brovira and that particular paper usually performs quite well despite its advanced age.
The Forte Polywarmtone is a beautiful paper for lith printing; in fact, it's one of the best papers ever made for this.
I also see single box of Kodak TriX sheet film (8x10?). There's a market for that, too, although it'll be kind of foggy. I'd separate it from the rest because it's film, not paper

In your place I'd probably put it up for sale here in the Classifieds. Sorry, no clue what a reasonable asking price would be - I do know that there's a market for this stuff, especially given the one or two gems (relatively speaking) in there. I'm not sure whether the packaging as such as any/much collector value.
 
Some of the papers are from the 1960s or earlier. The Ilford boxes with the yellow background, the Mimosa, and the Agfa with the intricate black logo.

I had a lot of old paper of this vintage and tested every box, most was OK, dropped in contrast and speed, but still gave a good Dmax with no base fog. I gave it all away, best used to teach kids making photograms, or the basics of darkroom work.

I would split in two, the old papers, and the newer.

Ian
 
I'm envious. 23 years in a garage hasn't helped them. But a lot of it is probably still good.
 
Using all that Brovira to make lumen prints would be very, very sad....
 
Brovira is one of the much lamented papers. Any newer Agfa paper in there would not be any good (almost 100% certain). I find that Ilford paper in that type of box gets spotty (literally gets weird spots). If that's a full box of TriX, some sucker would probably pay $300 for it. (I say sucker, but it's just a matter of exposing enough and using an appropriate developer). If the Polywarmtone is full and sealed, it's worth a good amount, because it's in high demand. The Arista paper is probably highly fogged. Don't know anything about the Mimosa paper.

In general, the higher the contrast grade of the paper, the better it lasts.
 
If these are going for sale I'd be interested in the box of Forte.
 
Photograms, chemigrams, phytograms. Just completed a Masters in Fine Art Photography and would have given right arm for a stash like this.
 
Daniela said:
I was thinking of this. Photograms, chemigrams, lumen prints...so many possibilities...too bad you're so far away!
Click to expand...

Good thought. Could you donate to a school? Maybe get a tax benefit. We have a store here in Iowa City called Artifacts. These folks sell stuff like this for 5-10 USD ea.

I would think in some cases the paper could be fixed out and an artist could benefit from the paper itself.

Single Weight paper is long gone, might be useful for paper negatives.
 
AL12 said:
Photograms, chemigrams, phytograms. Just completed a Masters in Fine Art Photography and would have given right arm for a stash like this.
Click to expand...
Phytograms? I had never heard of them! Found a great website that explains them very well. Another -gram to add to the list :smile:
 
Daniela has made the best suggestion, with mshchem. Donate them to schools or collages for alternative process techniques. They probably have a base fog that makes them useless for normal printing purposes.
 
I never would have thought about contact printing a single 6x6 frame.
Part of me wants a couple of the smaller items just for shelf dressing photographica but I fear shipping from NZ would be prohibitive.
 
First of all you should find out which papers are still usable. Therefore go in the darkroom, open each package and fully test each sheet by making a print. When you have finished a package go to the next package and repeat the previous sentence. When you have gone through and finished each and every package, you may leave the darkroom, kiss your wife and have something to eat.
 
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