Assistance with Id'ing Fake Photographs

[Bill T]

Hi Jimbo.....your suspicions are correct. This seller is terrible. He and his friends all have that noticeable font/text style in there descriptions, which is one way to spot a red flag. He's one of the ones who likes to put "original" on fake photos, blatently deceiving people. Another one of his tricks is to write on his ads something along the lines of: "watch out for dirty sellers of fake photos on Ebay, buy from me and feel safe" blah blah blah. A long time ago he would throw a handful of period photos in the mix of 100+ fake ones he posts for sale. But that has not been done in a long time and I haven't seen any good ones in his auctions since.

Also, I have met SELLERS who are buying quantities of photos from other sellers, only to find out they have been ripped off too. But they end up selling them as period photos anyway, making the problem of fakes in the community even worse.

Here are a couple more fakes that are common on Ebay right now...... Pretty obvious fakes, but people are still bidding and being ripped off consistently, thinking "oh, well they say ORIGINAL on the...". Ebay is more of a minefield than ever right now, making it more necessary to find a network of good sellers and stick with them!

[Bill T]

Here is a photo that I have recently bought, that was on Post-war photo paper. The photo had been sold throughout the collector community a couple times before reaching me. Here is what I have learned from this paper and markings.

LINES UNDER AGFA MARKING:
* The lines UNDER the Agfa trademark were used as a kind of Quality Control system for the company, as suspected by paper researchers.

(Ex.: No lines for Matte, One line for semi-gloss finish, 2 lines for Gloss etc etc)

Lines ABOVE Agfa Marking
* The lines ABOVE the Agfa marking is seen on Post-war photo paper on snapshot photos

Agfa trademark seen ALONE (IMPORTANT)
* The Agfa mark seen alone is OK to see on Postcard sized paper
* Agfa mark alone seen on snapshot photo paper (9x6/etc) is deemed as POST WAR
(In most cases you will also see the Line or Lines ABOVE the Agfa mark when by itself)

UV TEST on post-war "Agfa" paper
* The reverse of this paper in particular is UV Negative
* The middle layers also have VERY LITTLE glow, if not any
(This is because the use of Optical Brighteners and other whitening agents were just becoming popular in the 50's. So some paper from the 50's will NOT have chemical Agents applied, making Dating more difficult)

Other Observations on this POST WAR paper:
* This paper has a Semi-Gloss obverse, which was also used in wartime photo paper as well
* Thin style paper, as seen on many 9x6 snapshots
* You would have a very difficult time trying to determine the difference between period or post war paper without the Agfa Trademarks on the reverse
* In my personal opinion, this is legit 1950's paper, and not just modern paper with fake markings

[don_kihotis7]

Bill thanks for the valuable info

[Bill T]

Thanks Chris, a lesson Almost learned the old hard way! haha

[alexinovici]

Hey there

I really like German photographs from WWII and I've been reading this thread again and again with the hope that I will learn something useful, which I did thanks to your great advices. But, as a beginner, is very hard to identify a fake or an original for the first time after reading all this info so I feel that I should post here a photo from a Romanian website (like ebay) to check it out because I really don't know what to say about this one.

I feel that if I dare to ask about this photo and read an opinion I would learn and say: "Yes, this is an original/fake!" Even for this photo only

Thanks for reading this and I hope that it won't be much trouble for you

[Bill T]

Hi there Alex, and thanks for reading. Yes, its a lot of info to take in when starting out, but if you walk away with learning at least some of the basics from this thread...then its all worth while, and a good place to start! When buying, Be cautious, but not overly paranoid. The best thing you can do is to buy lower-end photos that aren't normally faked...and study the construction of them. Then you can start buying better, higher priced pics once you get comfortable. Even if you are knowledgeable when it comes to photo paper, you can still easily make mistakes when buying online! Sometimes you just don't know what you're getting until it reaches your hands

I believe the RAD photo you have shown is most likely fine, and is on normal Voigtlander photo paper, postcard sized.

[Bill T]

Been studying some of the more Seldomly seen postcard papers lately. Here we will focus on the trademarks, sizes, and variety of the markings on the papers. All are period photos

* "HB" Postcard Paper *

* small HB mark on middle-bottom
* Paper is very slightly thicker than average for PCs
* Matte finish on front, with those slightly raised bumps all over the front
* UV Neg

[Bill T]

This is a trademark usually seen in smaller sized 6x9 photos, but like others, they also can be seen on Postcard sized paper as well! While not really seldomly seen, I wanted to point that out.

* Leonar *

* Thick styled paper
* Flat Matte finish (no bumps)
* Trademark in middle (dont worry about the number or atelier stamps)
* UV Neg

[Bill T]

This one is odd. I have seen this trademark numerous times, and they are always unreadable. I used to think they were Mimosa, but they are not IMO. I have studied them in hand and IMO, it is a legitimate period paper. Here are 2 different examples, but I know I have others saved...

* Unknown Trademark*

* Thinner Postcard paper
* Matte finish
* Every one I have ever seen has had the same lines and had non-serrated edges
* A hair larger than average PC paper
* UV Neg

[Bill T]

"P"

* Small "P" on middle-bottom
* Paper slightly larger than average PC Paper
* UV Neg
(that pencil writing is my handwriting)