Collecting Photo Albums

[EKman]

Greetings gents, this is the first time I have posted in this forum. I am primarily and Iron Cross collector and have also dabbled in helmets and headgear. However, for as long as I have been collecting, I have had a great affection for photos. I think that it is because each photo is a truly unique piece of history. Anyway, I have reached one of those places in our hobby when I want to go in a new direction. For a long time, I have picked up loose German photos when I came across them cheaply. I am now thinking of actively collecting German photo albums. What I would like to know is what are some of the liablilities of this segment of Third Reich collecting? I know all the problems associated with medal collecting (rust, corrosion, so forth) and most of the problems with helmets and headgear (moths, light, rust...). But I am ignorant about what possible issues arise when collecting photos and photo albums. Could some of you guys who have been in this part of the hobby for a while throw out a few things that you have encountered that might be useful for someone to know before they start investing in this type of collectible?
Thank you all in advance

[R MICHAEL]

GLad to have you on this side of the fence EKman.. I think the one thing that is primary, to me anyway is content. Then condition of album, and also making sure as possible of the album being period as well as the photos. There are fakers in this side too. Well anyway once you've been bitten it is all over. LOL

I am with you on these photos being a unique bit of history. it is as if you are looking thru the eyes of the person who actually seen these events.

Mike

[CollectRussia]

Put-together albums are something to avoid, unless you have to have some of the photos in them. Empty albums are fairly easy to find, some dealers load them up with a mish-mash of ho-hum photos in the hope of making more money. Look at enough albums and you can start to spot the put-togethers.

New photo paper usually glows under blacklight.

Choose a theme and stick to it. Unless you have some limit, you can easily overindulge in this aspect of the hobby. Albums are still plentiful and relatively cheap.

Try finding US albums, thats another story alltogether! Seems snapshot photography was a much more popular hobby in Germany than the US.

[JasonS]

I too have been biten by the photo bug. I have yet to buy a complete album, but have bought loose groups of photos that were all from the same soldier and put them in an album.

I try and stick to two themes, daggers being worn and German band photos, but it is hard since there are so many cool pictures out there. I agree 100% about them being unique and a glimpse into the life of someone who was there and part of history.

For Christmas my wife bought me a photo album to keep all the loose pictures in. Its called scrap booking by women, but its photo collecting to me. if you go this route use acid free paper and plastic sleeves. There are nifty little plastic tabs that hold them in place on the paper that dont ruin the pictures and you can remove them latter. I can post some pictures if you like.

Best of luck and happy collecting.

JasonS

[EKman]

Jason, I would love to see some pics of your setup, or if you have already posted in the collection display forum, you can just post a link. The only detraction I have ever experienced with the few photos I have is that--for me anyway--alot of the joy in collecting is sharing the collection with others. It is easy to put a helmet out on a shelf for all to see and appreciate, but with the photos, unless you put them all under glass, it seems very difficult to display them, especially if the photos are in period albums as it would be a definate sin to remove them for display purposes. Oh well, as we all know, each aspect of our hobby has its drawbacks. At least you guys don't have to worry about rust or the nasty habit of zink absorbing your finishes!

[EKman]

I have another general question, what is the average cost for an SS photo album in the 80-100 picture range? I know that it depends on content and so forth, but in searching some dealer sites, the few that I have seen have been in the $2,000-$2,200 range Is this common?

[Mogdala]

I would say the price dependent on the motive and the units, but i would say 80-100 SS photos for 2000$ is in my opinion too expensive.

[Simon O.]

That seems very steep, but it's all about content. If the subject matter is interesting then i can well imagine prices like that.

German E-bay is the place for photos. You can often pick albums at reasonable prices but at the same time others rocket into the stratosphere. As others note, people have different themes, when an album includes shots which cover different themes then things will get expensive fast!

Due to places like E-bay and the steep rise in the last few years, several of us in Norway have now a gentleman's agreement not to bid against each other and exchange high quality scans amongst us of what we have. I also know several of us give scanned copies of what we have to our local museums who simply do not have the funds to chase these things. After all for those of us in what was occupied Europe these photos represent an important part of our local history.

Lastly, we have those who butcher entire groups and albums for profit. They're not difficult to spot, photos plainly ripped out of albums, some even have the cheek to cut out the captions and sell them along with the individual photos.

[Si1964]

What can I say, besides you've now seen the light As Christian and Simon have already said, that does seem high for that album, but then again its content might to rare to warrant that?

Again as Simon has said that on ebay.de you can still pick up some nice examples at an affordable level.
Any thoughts on what you might be collecting?

[Mogdala]

Again as Simon has said that on ebay.de you can still pick up some nice examples at an affordable level.

If you don´t start a "bidwar" against each other - set limits

[SCHUPO]

EKman,

I have collected police photo albums for years and I can only mirror what the others have said. Don't go too far afield from your interests. If you are interested in photos with badges and medals for instance you could collect albums from almost any branch. My suggestion would be to pick perhaps a branch specific theme, but SS is too costly (read that as overpriced) in my humble opinion.

One thing I like about good photo albums is that they will tell a story. It is the experiences of the person who took the photos and put the album together. It is an opportunity to get into the lives of people that we do not know and see their world from their point of view. It is very interesting from the view of a historian. I would also echo what CollectRussia said about US photo albums. Good US military and police albums are very difficult to find and are undervalued IMHO. Happy hunting!

[JasonS]

Here ya go Ekman. This is the album I have.

[JasonS]

The plastic covers are acid free and so is the paper I mounted them on.

[JasonS]

The plastic tabs are great because you can remove the photos from them if you want, with no damage to the picture.

[JasonS]

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