Ansel Adams Originals - $45.00

[DigiSLR]

I need to start going to more garage sales...

Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale worth $200 million - CNN.com

[ChristopherCoy]

Considering their estimated value... I'd sell one and keep the rest.

[JohnT]

Just read this via Dave Ramsey's FB page and was gonna post it. Wow! I'd definitely sell a couple and vault the rest.

[jeffkohn]

Last I heard, the provenance of these plates was still under dispute, with Ansel's family saying they weren't his (though I guess they have as much of a vested interest in that position as this guys does in getting them authenticated). Has anything changed recently, or is just another rounds of pubicity-seeking by the guy who has the plates?

The $200 million appraisal strikes me as wildly optimistic, if not downright delusional. AFAIK there's isn't much of a collector's market for glass-plate negatives. Prints made from these negatives won't fetch big prices because they wouldn't be vintage prints made by Ansel himself. (Prints by others from his negatives are pretty reasonably priced)

[Angelo]

I thought it was $200 million....

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by Angelo

I thought it was $200 million....

Corrected. That's even more ridiculous.

[suerenee]

How come I never have that luck. I all get from Garage Sales is more junk that I say I should get rid of.

[Tim-in-TX]

Sell two or three and donate the rest to the Library of Congress.

[TheFantasticG]

Yeah, after looking at many Ansel images I still for the life of me can't figure out why people would pay so much for them.

I just don't "see" whats so special about them. I guess just because Ansel's name is attached to them is what people pay for.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by TheFantasticG

Yeah, after looking at many Ansel images I still for the life of me can't figure out why people would pay so much for them.

I just don't "see" whats so special about them. I guess just because Ansel's name is attached to them is what people pay for.

If you understood what the man went through in order to produce those photos, your perspective would likely change. His name is synonymous with striking, black-and-white landscape imagery, all wrought through blood, sweat, and tears, so to speak. Add to that the fact that an artist's work typically goes up in value after they've died.

[TheFantasticG]

I understand well enough the darkroom processes.

I just don't find his work "striking" as you put it. They are nice landscapes, but theres where it ends.

Seems that fact he is dead has done the most to escalate the value of his images.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

OK the estimated value is total bullwhacky Beverly Hills BS! The reason that it looks like they were never printed and are duplicated scenes of known prints is that Ansel would shoot a couple plates off of a scene and PRINT FROM THE BEST ONE, the other just didn't meet his exacting standards and if you understand his darkroom work you would understand that the plate was just step 3 in his process. Step One Find Subject, Step Two Determine Best Exposure to Capture the Scene, Step Three Take Several Shots of the Subject, Step Four and on are all Dark Room and Paper Selection Work.

I would say that even after his recent record sales of images from the Polaroid Collection that the plates would be worth at most $10,000 each especially since they are all fire damaged and nothing like the $4+ mil that this "expert" says that they are worth also they are plates that were considered second rate by Adams himself. Just look at what
images produced by him and ones produced by his estate's are valued at of the same subject-Big Difference.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

garret have you actually been in a Museum or Photogallery and seen an actual Ansel Adams Original? I'm not talking about the mass produced calendars or books out there but one of his prints that he did the darkroom work on? There is some extra depth to the ones that I have seen that show his skill and why they are worth what they are worth.

[Shadow]

He donated most of his negatives to the University of Arizona, as I recall.

[groovyone]

They may not be authentic:
The Ansel Adams Gallery Blog: Response to July 27, 2010 Article -- Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale worth $200 million

Alleged Ansel Adams Photos Found at Garage Sale: Treasure Trove, or a Pile of Glass? - WSJ.com