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Market for historic photos?

david ellwood

david ellwood

Kirabosi Kognoscente
My Dad has an album of old silver albumen photos of China from the mid 1800s.

He would like to sell them and has no idea as to how to go about it but suspects they may be valuable given Chinese history.

This kind of thing:
 
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What I'd do is consult an "expert". Someone who works in the market, like someone who works for an auction house or a freelance historian of photography. Any chance of knowing who took them? If the photographer is a "name" they will certainly be worth something. Or try and find a collector of old photographs, who might have an idea of what the going prices are. Bear in mind that they might not be worth much, but take your time asking around and do not give them to the first person who says "I'll give you £50 for the lot." Try Googling "19th century Chinese photographs," or perhaps see if you can find some past auction catalogues on Internet.
As with antiques, oriental carpets, old silver, they tend to be worth nothing when you offer them to a dealer, but to be absolutely priceless when a dealer offers them for sale.
I don't really know what I'm talking about, but this is what I would do.
 
Definitely worth taking time to find the right market. Probably best for these to end up in a specialist auction, you need to get the widest possible audience.
 
Somewhere to start (the ad' is out of date but there are contact details) -

UPCOMING — The London Photograph Fair (photofair.co.uk)

If you are a regular viewer of Antiques Roadshow you may remember the person who regularly deals with photographs, if not, try to find out as they are all pretty well contactable via the www in one way or another, as are the experts on Bargain Hunt, and they too have public reputations to protect.

Also -

Who are the experts on Antiques Roadshow? From Hilary Kay to Mark Smith and Clive Farahar (thesun.co.uk)

I have no doubt that they will be worth something and if the Chinese millionaires and billionaires are buying that sort of Chinese history (they ARE buying conventional Chinese antiques to repatriate them), they could be worth a lot of money.

You just need a good auction house, not neccessarily specialist, just well-known. Hanson's (in Stoke? - run by the youngish nutter expert from Bargain Hunt) is very well regarded and has auctioned some very high priced finds, as has an auction house near me near Market Harborough. They will generally recognise anything of potential value and seek advice.

GLWTS
 
If Sothebys, Bonhams, Christies etc have a specialist photography department, you may be able to submit some images to them and get an indication if they are of interest, and if they are, then get an estimate of what they might fetch in an appropriate sale.
If not in a hurry, you will almost certainly get the highest price if you can find a dealer you trust to sell at an agreed commission, but this might take some time.
 
My uncle, killed at Arnhem, was a keen amateur photographer and we inherited boxes of glass negatives of Manchester in the 1920s he had taken.
We gave them to Manchester Central Library on permanent loan.
 
Wow, those sample pictures are fab! I have no idea of the value but I could imagine they'd go high.
 
Good luck.
I'd bet they will go east. Shame, a great shame, if they do.
The one that you posted - the river scene - was totally fabulous.

Interesting that they are listed as early C20 as you thought them to be earlier.

I very much doubt that you will be disappointed :)
 
It turns out that they are silver prints of earlier photographs. So not actually as early as previous thought.

The interesting thing is that there doesn’t appear to be any recorded evidence of the originals, so these prints may be all that exists.
 
^^ Somebody has done their homework to earn their commision - highly commendable. The images are, though, much earlier, even if the medium isn't.

I like them a lot. Shame they are going to go for more than £50 :)
 
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