Expert: David Silver - 1/19/2012

Question
We have recently inherited and good amount (100) of older cameras-too many for me myself to try to price out individually.  We are looking for someone to help us sell these for a fair value, either on a commission, by buying them themselves or or for a flat fee to compensate for their time. The cameras belonged to my wife's Grandfather, a photographer, who passed away 25 years ago.  At that time some of the most valuable cameras were sold by her parents, however we believe there a still quite a few with some significant value.

I can box them all up and transport them somewhere to be appraised or set them up at home for inspection.  We live on Long Island, but I work in NYC.  Most importantly, as I stated before we are looking for someone trustworthy as our knowledge in this subject is quite limited.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you,

Jay

Answer
Hello Jay,

Ah, drat!  I was just there this past weekend!  An old fellow needed me to evaluate his collection, nearly 600 pieces, and then I shipped all of the worthy items back here to San Francisco to sell on commission.  This was south of you, I think, in Highland Park.  I've been "on the road" twice this month, earlier visiting Boonville in Missouri to evaluate and sell yet another collection.  Anyway, when necessary, I do travel, but it never ceases to amaze me that all the collections I help liquidate are east of the Rockies.  Never on the west coast!

Okay, I'm afraid there isn't a person I can recommend in your area, whether dealers or collectors, to either give you a fair current market evaluation or to sell any of this antique and vintage camera gear effectively.  That's why I get called to make these trips.  Right now, although it may seem like a large number to you, 100 cameras is actually a rather small amount.  In general, most collections break down into one third items valuable enough to market, one third items too low in value to warrant the effort to sell so they are better off given to good will, and one third items that have virtually no value at all due to their extreme common nature or poor condition.  Obviously, in terms of item by item quality, some collections are better than others, and some are much worse.  When I hear "100 cameras", I can't help but think, after 30+ years of experience, there are most likely 30 to 35 key pieces, and the rest are disposable.  What's worse in this situation, you admit that "some of the most valuable cameras" were sold 25 years ago, and that suggests the better one third of this collection may already have been sacked.

Here's what I recommend you do.  Make a list.  A simple list.  It doesn't have to be detailed, it doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be organized on a spread sheet, it just needs to show the maker's name and whatever model name you can find on each camera.  Type it into the computer, put it on a simple Word document (to be saved as a basic .doc file), or even on a page in your computer's Text Edit or whatever "pad" function you have (in which case it will be saved as an even simpler .rtf file).  Do it quickly, be sloppy, mess up the spelling, it doesn't really matter because I'll understand what you're providing.  The point is that you can e-mail the list to me, and then I can see the overall breadth and depth of the collection.  Once I make an initial general evaluation, THEN we'll know how to proceed.  But nothing else needs to be done, or realistically CAN be done, until we first learn if it's WORTH doing.  So make that list, a simple dirty sloppy list, it should take less than an hour to do, just pull the cameras out of the boxes and quickly type down the maker and model of each, enter them line by line, so I can get a feel for what you have.  Send it to the e-mail address I've provided below, and I'll get right back to you with my opinions and further recommendations.  From there, I promise, I'll make this as easy and stress free as possible.  Even if it means I'll have to fly east of the Rockies...again!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Best wishes,

David F. Silver - President
International Photographic Historical Organization

silver@photographyhistory.com