Ansel Adams autographs - What to do with them?

[J Rabin]

Going through my old camping gear, I found a baggie with four Ansel Adams post cards, autographed by Mr. Adams. Reminded me I was camping Yosemite in 1981, a couple years before Ansel Adams died. He was there for a fund raiser, event, or book (can't remember). As a poor grad student, I went into store, bought four postcards of his images for a buck, and Mr. Adams kindly autographed them for me. Nice intense old man at that time.

Long forgotten. Found them 25 years later nicely preserved in a baggie. Anybody have an idea what to do with them? Maybe give them to people who have big framed copies of the poster prints? They could tape these to the rear, and say they have signed copies? I have a "Clearing Winter Storm (x2)," a "Vernal Falls," a "Moon and Half Dome."

Dunno. Anyone have ideas? Sure brings back memories of youth!
Jack

[Barb42]

humm, how much do you want for one?

[Jaime]

Pm Sent.

[primoz]

I bet there will be bunch of "sell them for lot of money" replies, but personally I'm a bit weird when it comes to such things. So... I would keep them :) I don't need money that bad, so something like this would mean more to me then some money (I guess you can't sell this for few million $ :) ) And even though something like this might not mean much now, but what about in 10, 20 or 30 years? So... if you don't need money that bad, keep them :)

[StealthLude]

id try and low ball you and get one for cheap....then ebay it... but I have respect for my POTN memebers, so my advise is ebay them. Im sure someone is willing to pay a LARGE pretty penny for one.

OR.. Keep it, since it WILL go up in value as time passes...

Taping it to the back of a poster print is screwing yourself out of resale value.

Good luck, 30 years later, im sure You can pawn that off for $500, $1000, with e-bay, and a huge ansel fan you never know.

I once went to a Garage sale, bought a stamp collection for $4 off some guy whos uncle died, and sold the stamps for $350 on ebay.

[Orgnoi1]

Keep them... and pass them on to someone who will appreciate them as obviously you did as a kid...

[Tsmith]

I would have them set on a matte and then framed in a weathered wood frame.

[EOSAddict]

Frame them yourself if you are an Ansel Fan.

If not, sell them if you must. Just let me know ;)

[J Rabin]

Thanks for the ideas POTN folk. Verdict appears: keep and frame, or sell. I've always avoided and never used fleaBay, but it IS global price discovery tool. On their own, the cards are not good enough to frame, they are just postcards with Ansel Adam's signature on them, that's why I thought they needed to be attached to a larger reproduction of the same print.

I do not like doing landscape photography - don't do it - but enjoyed Ansel Adams prints when I was young for their stunning composition and contrast. In middle age I appreciate them for their technical feat. I once read Adams said/wrote his high goal was to achieve "one good photograph a month."

Ansel Adams did systematize the concept of over exposing a negative to reveal shadow detail, and then under exposing the print to hold highlight detail. This seems very much in harmony with "expose to the right" recommendation for exposure with digital sensors. I imagine if Ansel Adams were alive, he'd be an enthusiastic adoptor of digital photography and digital darkroom. He'd be sandwiching digital exposures.

Oh well, time to go learn about fleaBay.
Jack

[rhys]

I think Ansel Adams would be very interested in the new technology but I think he'd (if he was still alive) be sticking very firmly to plate cameras as he grew up with them.

[philpereira]

With something like this, I would lean toward getting it appraised by someone familiar with photography memoribilia (you know, like an Antiques Roadshow type person familiar with insurance and auction values). It's likely you're not sitting on a gold mine or anything, but at least you get an accurate value. Good luck!

[saravrose]

wow!! incredibly jealous and in all honesty I would keep them... what an incredible keepsake!! but, if you must sell them then you should sell them.. but, I think you should sell them as a unit and only take a very fair price.. I think that the group of them would retain value much more as time goes by then if you were to split them up...

sari

[unix04]

hold a great potn landscape photography contest as a tribute to mr ansel adams, be the judge of this contest and hand them out to the winners. :D

[CyberDyneSystems]

Where are you on the East Coast?

There are a lot of good places to get stuff appraised in the Boston and NY areas,. and I'm sure in DC too. Most of the wags we see on road show are Boston based, (leila from Sothebies NY actually hails from RI, and Boston) but there are a few from NY as well as the local specialists they gather.

But me?, I'd frame 'em and keep 'em :)

[Sledhed]

To me there's only one choice, have them framed.

[tweatherred]

I agree with the framing; a pro can make them look very nice as well as ensuring that they are protected. They may be worth less than some people think; I recently heard a guy on the radio get told his can of Campbell's soup autographed by Andy Warhol was worth very little other than as a keepsake because he did that for thousands of people. Get them appraised if you want, but remember that only you lived the story that goes along with them.

Edit: A quick Google found this signed postcard (http://www.historyforsale.com/html/prodetails.asp?source=yahooshopping&documentid=74717) for $1499.00, so they do seem to be worth a good bit. The page also shows how nice a postcard can look when framed.

[J Rabin]

By themselves, the Adams signed postcards are not worthy nor impressive enough to frame and keep on a wall. And I'm not into memorabilia, nor memories, and I don't collect things, and don't treat my photography as art.

Primoz - I'm leaning toward your approach. I don't need the money. Best thing is to buy some large prints, framed, attach these to the back, and give them to family members.

Cyber - Down in Jersey. Can't stand NYC environment.

Tweatherred - Hah, Googling is dangerous. A vendor is ASKING, but I doubt they are remotely worth that.

J.
Let's kill this thread. The thought of these is now making me antsy....