Questions about period photo albums.

[Chris Perna]

Greetings all. I was thinking about purchasing a Luftwaffe photo album which is being described as original. The dealer in particular has given me the option to make a fair offer. I took the opportunity to browse some of the other dealer pages to get a good gauge for a price, when I saw some of the same exact photo's in other dealers albums.

My question is this a common occurrence? Could one or both photo albums be fake? The pictures in particular were of the square edged, not the rough looking edges. I am thinking they are copies. Any opinions are appreciated.

[Mil-Archive]

Greetings all. I was thinking about purchasing a Luftwaffe photo album which is being described as original. The dealer in particular has given me the option to make a fair offer. I took the opportunity to browse some of the other dealer pages to get a good gauge for a price, when I saw some of the same exact photo's in other dealers albums.

My question is this a common occurrence? Could one or both photo albums be fake? The pictures in particular were of the square edged, not the rough looking edges. I am thinking they are copies. Any opinions are appreciated.

Some photo albums contain photos which were printed as postcards & sold to the men, these are often included as fillers by the original owners, or, they could be later additions. Given the 'square edges' description this is probably the most likely.

It's also possible (but less likely) that the photo was a good one and the owner printed off a few copies to give to friends. I also believe some units were distributed private photos which were printed in greater numbers.

If you want to post up a link to the album and the one which contains copies then it would be easier to give a verdict on whether or not it's an original album / original photo.

[von_clausewitz]

Hello,

rough looking edges do not make a photo more original than a squared edges one...
If the seller is dishonest he can still buy such a machine for a few tens of Eur...

During WWII there were many different brands of photo paper in use and they were cut in different sizes/format...

You can still find the same photo inside different albums and even in different formats and they are all originals... expecially among members of the same unit...
During WWII not every soldiers had a smart phone to take pictures... Probably just one out of ten so he was probably printing the same photos for all the other ones he was used to hang around...
Personally I've got 10 sets of 30 photos each... all photos have been printed 10 times... and this soldier was KIA before having the chance to distribute them to the other friends...

There are other untold true things about WWII albums and photos...
The most were put toghether after WWII and sometimes not even by the soldier himself cause he didn't make it to the end...

If you are a beginner you'll have to get through a few fake purchases to understand how things goes... it's unavoidable... But the fake purchase will not mean that you'll buy fake photos... but fake albums... or enhanced ones...
To print good quality small photos in 6cmx9cm format costs a lot of money and it's done only for SS, planes photos and othe expensive stuff... printing 200 small photos and selling them for 200US$ it's not worth it... and an expert collector will 100% recognize a fake once he have it in his hands...
FAKE ALBUMS are albums put toghether by dishonest sellers with photos that do not belong toghether....
ENHANCED ALBUMS are average ones that have been enhanced by the addition of some really nice original photos that will drive the price high... for example a modest Russian Campaign photoalbum with the addition of 10 photos of knocked out russian tanks...

It's easier and more profittable to cheat with fake albums than with fake photos...

I wish to you the same fun that I've had during the last 15 years collecting WWII albums...

Gianpiero

[Chris Perna]

Hello and thanks for the opinions. You guys make some valid points.

Helden, I would rather not post links to some of the dealers photo's or items for sale as to not offend anyone so to speak. But I truly appreciate the response.

I will do some more research before I take the plunge and purchase the photo album. As I do truly enjoy the hobby, one must tread carefullly as to not get burned by fake items or dishonest sellers.