Old Photograph Help

[Curiorooms]

Hi all,

First of all, it's a pleasure to be here. I've been a dealer of antiques and curio for a few years now and just started taking an interest in photographs and fine art. I've also got some photography experience so hopefully can help along the way.

Having bought a few historic photographs over the weekend I seem to have hit an hurdle already. I picked up what looks to be a copy/reprint which is fine as only paid £5.00 however it seems to have some distortion. When you look at the image from certain angle the black areas become negative, only when you look at the image directly from the front does it look correct. Now, the photo appears sepia and I've seen this effect with Daguerrotypes but this isn't one. I did think it could be sun damage however the fact the photo is fine from a certain angle leads me to think it's not. It's certainly a reprint as it's too big for an orginal and I'm sure there's a simple answer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
Dan

 

[John Koehrer]

To me it looks like "silvering out" caused by insufficient fixing. If not fixed properly a print may
look like this over time.

 

[BobD]

Old prints can degrade over time if they were not properly fixed or washed in the first place or exposed to certain atmospheric contaminants or bright light such as direct sunlight.

 

[MattKing]

Are we seeing the prints themselves, or prints behind glass?

 

[Don_ih]

Often, a print that has been properly developed, fixed, and washed will silver out due to contamination from the cardboard it's adhered to and the matting. That's probably what happened.

 

[Tel]

Are we seeing the prints themselves, or prints behind glass?

+1. Can't really tell what it is with the print under glass. Could be clouding on the glass itself.

 

[Ian C]

This is one discussion of silvering out, some example photos (which look like the examples in post #1) and possible treatments.

https://ritaudina.com/en/2018/10/14/silver-mirroring-removal-from-historical-photographs/


Here is a list of links discussing the problem.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wha...IAfQGkgEDOC4ymAEAoAEByAECwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz