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Posted by R. Tomlin on August 17, 2000 at 15:05:25:
Does anyone have any information about antique glass slide negatives? I have over 200 glass negatives from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, mostly from the northeast USA. My questions are:
1. Is there any historical value to anyone? 2.
Are they rare?
3. Can I produce paper photos from them? 4.
Is there a monetary value?
Posted by Doug Clifford
I think the historical and monetary value would be directly related to what the negatives depict, whether they are signed (i.e. is the name of the photographer known?), and whether they've been well preserved (i.e. scratches, deterioration, etc.) It goes without saying they are fragile. There's not a big market for glass negatives. Most of them are in the custody of historical societies and museums.
I've been a photographer for 40 years and and I can't recall if I've ever seen a glass negative (maybe once or twice more than 20 years ago.) You didn't mention the dimensions of the negatives; 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 etc.?
You can produce contact prints from glass negatives by laying the negative (emulsion-side down) directly in contact with a sheet of photographic paper in a darkroom and then exposing the paper with the white light from an enlarger. (Some people would use a light bulb but that's more difficult to control.)
I suggest further discussion with John Craig because of his research on early American photographers and his work on the Daguerreian Registry. He's the only dealer I know which might be interested. I'm copying this to John.
Regards, Doug Clifford
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