Modern SS portrait photos ?

[Jo_Rivett]

About 5-8 weeks ago, a seller i know had the following photo up for sale.
Portrait of a big "animal" wearing a Pierced WB, Coburg, Blood Order ,Honor Ring, Degen, ect etc..... the full program.

Now, i just saw that he has another one up for sale, from the same Animal, only different.
The Fuzzy boarders point towards a print from a old Glass negative, now, my questions are:

•Is it possible to make good Copies from old Glass negatives? that would fool people?
•Does anyone Recognize the Photo as one that has been cropping up regularly on auction sites etc etc..

[Wim Vangossum]

Hi Jo,

An older man I know his grandfather was the first photographer of the city. We gave some of his old glass negatives to a german dealer because he nowed German photographers who could make good copies of them in the traditional manner. Here in Belgium we couldn't find someone who could still do that. So IMO it's possible

Regards, Wim :)

[Jo_Rivett]

Cheers Wim, so in the right hands, a nice little earner then.
Wonder if more of these are going to turn up?:sneaky2:

[Jo_Rivett]

I got a PM from someone who noted that one of these photos was pictured in:
the left photograph without the visored cap was used by Dirk Stefanski in his article about the Ehrendegen des RFSS, Militaria-magazine from sept/okt 1997.

And, after looking at more of the sellers pictures, (exactly the same format, from Glass negatives) one is left thinking that these are repro pictures, and not as he describes, the real deal.

A trend which seems to be growing now, maybe these people think that no one will complain or want their money back on small dollar items.... sad.

[Felix]

It is possible and done quite frequently. Like with nearly all other third Reich items, photos are copied and the fakers make money. Some can be found on Ebay....

These guys use unmarked or almost correct/or modern fake maker marked photo paper to mimic the photos taken and developped during the war.
Old style photo papers have the logo "Agfa Lupex, "Ridax" etc... Modern paper usually have only Agfa or other brands that were not used war time.
There of course existed old stocks of real photo paper that was used for making new prints in the 50's. These are of course nearly impossible to detect. Some use photo papers with logotypes used in the 50's and manufactured back then. These are not the same as today and could fool people. It is of course tricky with some reverse sides that do not have any makers mark. Then you have to try to find out if old methods were used.

Most war time photos are covered with a thin layer of gelatine to protect the silver particles that react when exposed to light. Gelatine creates the cracking effect with time and aging, when a photo is bent, that can be seen on some photos. That is why one should never touch with wet fingers because then the gelatine layer will be damages because it is soluble in water. This layer can be felt if one touches gently on an old photo.
Modern photos have a more plastic cover that it totally different.
Also one can see if paper has a slight yellow tone or if it is white. Some well kept old photos can be pretty white though, and some poorly kept 60-70's photos can be rather yellow.

Some sellers that are more honest sells modern prints of old negative and use totally modern photo paper and sell them for what they are.

This was just some short info about it.

Cheers,
Felix

[Jo_Rivett]

Thanks Felix.
IMHO, lots of people are not clued up on this, and so they may well be Honest guys, and got the repros from elsewhere and cant tell the difference. I am always suspicious when i see Pictures of people wearing every rare badge there was, an Honor ring to boot, and the Buy Now price is €40.-
The wet finger bit i had to find out the hard way :crying: Learning by doing they call it.