Assistance with Id'ing Fake Photographs

[Paul D]

To be honest there is nothing special about any of these shots so don't waste your money on post war reprints , save it up for some nice originals !!

[Bill T]

Well just wanted to add another one to our "BAD EBAY SELLERS LIST"

dr.lisa2007 - ALOT of decent fake Panzer & SS portraits. These Could be dangerous for alot of the beginner and average photo collectors!!

*almost 90% of sellers pics are on the same paper w/ same cuts. - RED FLAG #1. Almost all them have the fake added "Agfa Lupex" stamp. RED FLAG #2 All have same contrast- RED FLAG #3.

Ive added an example of the postcard sized fake and the smaller sized one (probly 6x9 or simialr)

Its getting tougher and tougher out here, as the market/demand for photos continues to rise! Arm yourself w/ knowledge and save money and hassle!!!!

[tempelhof]

definitely red flags as noted! contrast problems and edge cuts the same.

[Evgeni M]

Dear All,

Recently I encountered the following images. The first one seems to be fake to me, but the second one on the Agfa paper looks good. The sellers told me that they come from the same family. What are your thoughts?

Thanks a lot!

Regards,

Evgeni

The "Etche Photographie Fake"
(postcard size) (UV negative!)


** These are another High-end Fake! It is believed that these were made in the 80's from the original glass negatives, sometimes on older stock photo paper. To my knowledge, "etche photographie" is not a photo paper company.....but something to state that the photo was made on photo paper, and not printed by machine. With this being said, please know that there are indeed Period Originals that have "etche photographie" on them. **
(can be very hard to tell when you have a good one! Usually an in-hand inspection is best in this case IMO)

- fakes will be in excellent shape usually
- usually no writing on reverse
- good detailed image


(image taken from 2006 WAF post)
GOOD ONE:

Attachment 317349


BAD/FAKE ONE:

Attachment 317350
Attachment 317351

[Lancere]

Hi guys , I have a large collection of German WW2 Photos specialising in Waffen SS ,and Russian Front there is one or two others I would watch out for "Ordinolli" (German Ebay ) He sells reprints of Bundesarchiv photos some are very good copies others when scanned on high resolution show print marks but they are cheap 1,00 Euro
starting bid . The other has been not on Ebay for some time ,"Helga " If you see her again she just takes your money ,will not return emails .
What has not been mentioned are the variety of sizes of the photos 6 x 6 Cm ,9x 6 Cm & 10 x 7Cm even smaller also straight edge as well as serrated edge her is an example front and back both these are from Albums purchased from Gamsdivision1944

[Lancere]

I posted the photos to show the variety sizes and edges ,but their was a huge variety of cameras
as well as differing qualities of film . Early in the war most images will appear sharper that will be due to the quality of the film . Later in the war film was not as plentiful ,almost every unit had a photographer and all the Military Schools permitted a photographer to attend training and as you know Soldiers love to pose ... Lancere

[Bill T]

Hi Evgeni,
As you thought, Your 2nd SS photo on Agfa is a good one IMO. Very nice, Congrats!!

And aha, youve gotten one of the Etche Photographie photos.... I personaly have always been skeptical when it came to most of these for reasons already posted.
I have had period originals, but also had and saw alot of sketchy ones. I will be honest with you and say that I cannot tell you a definite answer about the 1st photo. I can say that mostly all of the sketchy ones I saw with these markings, never had ANY wear whatsoever on them.

Your example interests me, because the SS man on the Agfa photo looks to be the same man on the other one too. Since they came from the same family, then there is a good chance, even if it were a post-war printed portrait.....it might have been printed from the original wartime negative!? I am not so quick to write this one off as a fake, but maybe just a post-war printed portrait. Either way, you have a nice grouping there my friend.

[Bill T]

,almost every unit had a photographer ... Lancere

Good posts Lancere!
And yes, alot of people dont know this....but Unit photographers would take a large amount of photos throughout the units different campaigns, and actually make numerous copies of the better ones.....which would then be offered for sale to members of the unit!
In alot of cases soldiers made there own personal albums, but there are alot of unit photographers who actually made up albums to sell to members of the unit as a rememberance of there service. They ususally have the Unit ID on the front of the album,descriptions/captions, unit histories etc.

[Evgeni M]

Thanks a lot for commenting! in the end i just bought the second one and left the Echte Photographie for what it was.

Hi Evgeni,
As you thought, Your 2nd SS photo on Agfa is a good one IMO. Very nice, Congrats!!

And aha, youve gotten one of the Etche Photographie photos.... I personaly have always been skeptical when it came to most of these for reasons already posted.
I have had period originals, but also had and saw alot of sketchy ones. I will be honest with you and say that I cannot tell you a definite answer about the 1st photo. I can say that mostly all of the sketchy ones I saw with these markings, never had ANY wear whatsoever on them.

Your example interests me, because the SS man on the Agfa photo looks to be the same man on the other one too. Since they came from the same family, then there is a good chance, even if it were a post-war printed portrait.....it might have been printed from the original wartime negative!? I am not so quick to write this one off as a fake, but maybe just a post-war printed portrait. Either way, you have a nice grouping there my friend.

- - Updated - -

I guess that is a good example of those battalion photographer print. If you can please provide us with more examples. Thanks a lot!

Cheers,

Evgeni

Thanks to everybody for the input! Great post. There are two things that I would like to raise.

First (more straight forward): I bought a set of 20 pictures of the 1st GJ in the Caucasus, though I was doubting the authenticity, but just couldn't let them go. What do you think of them? I am posting just a sample to avoid any sales of these on ebay....If somebody is interested I can share the set via the PM. The paper is a bit thinner than usually. I think that these may be the so called "canteen" photos made by the battalion photographer and bought by the soldiers as the souvenirs to show back home. If somebody can encrypt the writing on the back, I would really appreciate it! What are your thoughts?

Attachment 338362Attachment 338361Attachment 338360Attachment 338359Attachment 338358Attachment 338357Attachment 338356Attachment 338355

Second: I would like to raise the issue of the "canteen" photos. Can somebody share how they can be recognized?

[Bill T]

I would have bought them too Evgeni! A very nice grouping for sure. Nice finds

Oh, and about the unit photographer photos......Ive noticed in some of the Unit albums, that a number of the photos have a white number in the corners. I have seen this before on singles, and have always wondered what these numbers were....

This is only my opinion, but I tend to believe that these were photos that were taken by a unit photographer, which made many copies/prints of the speciifc image for albums/etc. to sell or give to soldiers within the unit/etc

See Here: