New collector of photo albums have some questions about this luftwaffe photo album

[Monuir]

Hi! I'm looking at this photo album a guy is selling for 130 euro. The photos seem amazing, but in all honesty they seem to amazing!

This might be strange but I am only interested in 100 % original photo albums that are untouched, with no pre war photos, with no photos missing or swaped/replaced and with all photos taken by the actual soldier (or with hes camera) and the album put together in war time, not post war.. (Many demands but it narrows it down pretty good and gives me what I want)

Now I'm pretty new with photo collecting but I guess some soldiers might have bought press photos or got press photos with cigarettes packs and so on, and put them in the album. And in this album some photos seem really really impressive, so I am 99 % sure they are not taken by the soldier, and that they are mass produced press photos, but just in case I wanted to hear what you think, so I don't pass the deal of a lifetime.

What do you think? Here is the photos:

Attachment 396182

Attachment 396185

Attachment 396171

Attachment 396172

Attachment 396173

Attachment 396174

Attachment 396175

Attachment 396176

Attachment 396178

Attachment 396181

Attachment 396180

Attachment 396177

Attachment 396187

[MD Helmets]

Only German albums?

[diver99]

Without getting an album straight from the original owner / family member, it is very hard to say 100 percent. I have purchased modern albums as well as very old and all have a mixture of family photos and souvenir / press pics. If there is any doubt about authenticity, check where the mounts are for the photos and seee if pictures have been replaced. Also have a look at the corner mounts, if different from each other, could depict pics added later. If you look on german ebay, there is never a shortage of loose photos, so making an album up is relatively easy.

[Monuir]

Only German albums?

Unfortunaly I only have german albums in my collection. To be honest I prefer american stuff when it comes to albums, but also awards, helmets and field post, but it's hard to come by here in Sweden and also seems to be more expensive..

[Monuir]

Ok I have been searching the net and now I found one of the STUKA photos on a site so I guess it is a press photo!

World War II Online HQ

(The top photo is the same as the stuka photo on page 2)

[Paul D]

As far as the photos go as they are not stuck in you can post photos of the rear etc and blacklight them to ascertain if they are originals. It isn't uncommon for period press photos to be included in an album but again you need to ensure they are period and not modern copies.

You also need to bear in mind that quite often photos taken during the war may have been developed post war on original wartime paper that was still available and put into albums.

As with any area of collecting you need to do some research and learning first before commiting your money , we have a number of useful threads on the forum to help with this !!