Supposed Ansel Adams Negs Found at a Garage Sale

[david b]

Not sure if this has been posted before.

Some guy bought a bunch of glass plate negs at a garage sale for $45.

See the video here

(isn't patrick alt a member here?)

[Ektagraphic]

Amazing! I would love to be that guy!

[bdial]

I go to the wrong garage sales.

[mrmekon]

I go to the wrong garage sales.

No kidding. This, and finding 8x10 view cameras at thrift stores? All I ever find are APS point-n-shoots

[Kerik]

Wow, how cool is that. Patrick!!

[Kerik]

Hmmm... the plot thickens:

But the grandson of the artist is unconvinced of the claims.

“Mr. Norsigian has been making these claims for a number of years and I have not seen convincing proof that they are Ansel’s negatives,” Mathew Adams was quoted as saying.

“People have been photographing Yosemite since the late 1800s and that fact there are glass plate negatives of images of Yosemite does not therefore mean that they are Ansel’s.”

[Mike1234]

Bullshit is very difficult to sift through. However, I do wish I had a pile of million dollar bullshit from which I could extract a nice income.

No negativity intended toward the OP. It's just my sense of incredulity, skepticism, cynicism, etc. creeping through. It sounds like an eBay-type scam to me.

[Toffle]

Hmmm... Very cool to have found a whole box of glass negatives, but I wonder... was Ansel really fond of crooked horizons? (I only mention, because judging from some of my prints, apparently I am... :rolleyes: )

[Kerik]

Yeah, it seems a little sketchy, but who knows. The red flag for me is that his attorney is described as an "entertainment lawyer" in one of the articles I read/saw. The handwriting issue seems pretty strong, but who is their expert? Seems they need some independent evaluation to cooberate.

[SchwinnParamount]

Hmmm... the plot thickens:

But the grandson of the artist is unconvinced of the claims.

“Mr. Norsigian has been making these claims for a number of years and I have not seen convincing proof that they are Ansel’s negatives,” Mathew Adams was quoted as saying.

“People have been photographing Yosemite since the late 1800s and that fact there are glass plate negatives of images of Yosemite does not therefore mean that they are Ansel’s.”

I'd agree with you except for a couple of things.

1) one of the negatives was compared to a negative absolutely known to be Ansels. Judging from the time of day, the shape of the snow pack in the back ground of the picture, the precise matching of the viewpoint... down to the focal length, the suspect negative had to be taken with an 8x10 camera using the same focal lenth, in the same location (to the inch), in the same hour of the same day.
2) Virginia's handwriting was on the manila envelopes containing the negatives.