Excerpt from the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies

Denise Levy of Art Find Associates in New York contributed an excellent article entitled The Challenges of Appraising Photographs to the 2010 edition of the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies. Many generalist appraiser see old photographs and dont have the knowledge or skill set to properly identify and value. Denise's article is an excellent resource for appraisers when looking at old photographs. To order the Journal, click HERE.

Excerpt from the beginning of The Challenges of Appraising Photographs
by Denis Levy.

Identifying and dating photographs presents a difficult challenge for appraisers. Recognized as an aesthetic discipline for the past 200 years, photography is in its infancy compared to the enduring traditions of painting and printmaking. An array of photographic processes overlapped chronologically, from the earliest heliographs that resembled lithographs invented by Nicéphore Niépce (French, 1765-1833), to the Daguerreotypes of Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre (French painter, 1787-1851), with mirror-like finishes, to the clarity of computer age technology of digital printing. This article will offer clues to identification, dating, understanding the medium of photography, present auction market and gallery activities, reference historical benchmarks, and list links to resources and professionals in the field.

Eighteen or more photographic processes are sandwiched in a 200-year span. Determining whether a photograph is early, new, vintage, copy, or a reprint is a tough call even for the seasoned appraiser. To add to the mix, photographers are recreating early photographic techniques and selling those photographs in the art market not to fool the public but out of a fascination with the methods. The early processes of daguerreotypes, tintypes, and albumen prints are currently created by contemporary artists that are meant to resemble vintage prints. They are signed by the artist so that tracking value for the appraiser is easier. Early prints were signed on the frame, or verso, etched on the plate with the studio name and date, or completely unattributed. The Archival Advisor of the Rochester Institute of Technology summarizes general print types as follows: “Albumen prints, (1850-1920) silver image in egg white binder on thin paper support, uniform gloss, purple/brown, red/brown, or yellow/brown hue; gelatin silver prints, (1960’s- present) - RC (resin coated) base, gelatin printing-out paper, silver image in a gelatin binder on paper support, glossy surface, warm purple or brown hue; gelatin developing out-paper (1885-present), fiber base, silver image, glossy to matte surface, neutral to warm hues and a variety of textures, silver mirroring; and gelatin developing out RC (resin coated), paper commonly used for photographic prints, RC base, silver image, matte to glossy surface, variety of textures, neutral to warm hues, possible silver mirroring.” These designations will come up as the appraiser pours through photography collections.

Early daguerreotypes, ca. 1839, were placed in leather or velvet cases, embellished with a brass or gilt frame. Brass and paper mats were used with an overlay of glass to protect the image. When turned from side to side the mirror like finish presented a positive to negative image. Ambrotypes were cased, ca. 1854, with a protective glass cover. Carte-de-visites, ca. 1850’s had straight or curved tops in a rectangular format encased in velvet with a hinged case. Today, tintypes, ambrotypes, and daguerreotypes are rare collectibles. These photographs were printed on a single plate with no negative and are therefore unique prints. Early photographs of this type come up to auction deaccessioned by museums, dealers, or from private collectors. In his illuminating book, art historian David Rudd Cycleback writes: “While there have been many different photographic processes and prints, well over ninety-nine percent of all of history's paper photographs belong to three types of prints: Albumen Prints, Gelatin-silver prints, and Chromogenic prints or C-prints.” This narrows the field while appraising paper prints of a collection.