What is a collection of aircraft photos worth?

[tinbender2]

I have many thousand 35mm slides of 1980s USAF aircraft, primarily FB-111, KC-135, transients, accidents, incidents, etc., on a cold war SAC base.

I was a Security Police OIC, and Alert Photographer certified, so I had access and authorization to photograph where few others could. Normally, a camera on the flightline was an automatic jack-up, processing at the law enforcement center, and interrogation by AFOSI. So, I think I have photos few others have, but no idea if they have any monetary value.

It would take 100+ hours to sort and catalog them, so if they aren't worth much, they can just sit in storage for a few more decades.

[The Inspector]

Why don't you reach into the box and post a couple dozen @ random here? You could start another very popular site depending on what the audience (us) gives you in feedback, I'm always interested in new unseen stuff about aircraft-

[JBoyle]

As a one-time SAC guy, I know flightline photo credentials were rare.
You might have some interesting stuff. You'd be surprised how rare daily flightline shots are.
At the time, no one thought what they were doing was historic and we all thought the Cold War would last forever, so not a lot of folks bothered to document routine activities.

In books, you see a lot of static display shots taken at airshows or by arrangement through Public Affairs, but workdays photos are rare.

[k5083]

Before posting, sharing, selling, or making public in any way, first be sure it won't get you in some kind of trouble. I know nothing about this, it just seems to me from your description that there might have been a reason why most other people would have been disciplined for taking a camera where you did, and someone might still care.

Next question is whether you hold the copyrights in the images, which is not clear from what you wrote. If you don't, you may own the slides themselves and could sell them, but neither you nor the buyer would have the legal right to publish them, which includes putting them on the web. That obviously would affect their monetary value.

Then after that it comes down to what condition are the slides in, were they well exposed etc. to begin with, and is the subject matter cool. Sounds like the subject matter might be cool.

August

[k5083]

BTW, if you're really concerned about maximizing monetary value, you would probably do it by breaking up the collection into small groups. Hypothetically, if you had 10,000 slides, but it was roughly 10 each of 1,000 airplanes, most buyers would find it duplicative, and you could get almost as much for 1 slide each of 1,000 planes as you could for the 10, and you can sell it ten times; meaning that you could get almost 10x as much money for the whole collection if you plucked out 1 slide of each plane. There are further divisions of the collection that might also make sense, e.g. by type of aircraft or time period, so that you could appeal to more specialized collectors.

If the thought of breaking up the collection in that way horrifies you, then I'd say good for you and I agree! But recognize that you would pay an economic penalty for your integrity if you are going to sell it, and the buyer might well do what I suggested above.

August

[tinbender2]

Why don't you reach into the box and post a couple dozen @ random here? You could start another very popular site depending on what the audience (us) gives you in feedback, I'm always interested in new unseen stuff about aircraft-

That is probably the best way to determine any value. However, they are all slides, I don't have any way to scan a slide, and they are in an archival, sealed box.

I'm downsizing my stuff right now, and just wondering what to do with this 40lb, 2ft x2ft x3ft box of slides.
I don't really have time to work on them, but could, if there was some serious money in it.

I'm guessing there are around 20,000 slides, and at the time, I discarded ones that had technical flaws. It cost me .25 per slide back then, so I easily spent $5,000+ just in film & processing costs.

[tinbender2]

As a one-time SAC guy, I know flightline photo credentials were rare.
You might have some interesting stuff. You'd be surprised how rare daily flightline shots are.
At the time, no one thought what they were doing was historic and we all thought the Cold War would last forever, so not a lot of folks bothered to document routine activities.

In books, you see a lot of static display shots taken at airshows or by arrangement through Public Affairs, but workdays photos are rare.

This is exactly why I was wondering about value. The website about my old base has mostly lousy pictures of 18 yr old airmen at social events (getting drunk), buildings, or staged Pubic Affairs photos.

[tinbender2]

Before posting, sharing, selling, or making public in any way, first be sure it won't get you in some kind of trouble. I know nothing about this, it just seems to me from your description that there might have been a reason why most other people would have been disciplined for taking a camera where you did, and someone might still care.

Next question is whether you hold the copyrights in the images, which is not clear from what you wrote. If you don't, you may own the slides themselves and could sell them, but neither you nor the buyer would have the legal right to publish them, which includes putting them on the web. That obviously would affect their monetary value.

Then after that it comes down to what condition are the slides in, were they well exposed etc. to begin with, and is the subject matter cool. Sounds like the subject matter might be cool.

August

Back then, I enforced the law, rules, and regulations, and I abided by them religiously. I still have my paperwork authorizing me to photograph virtually anywhere on base, with few exceptions. I have no worries about any of my shots being illegal, either then, or now. I have seen private photos on the net of nuclear weapons, that were forbidden during my tour. Those shots would have gotten the photographer a few years in jail back then, but, today, no one seems to care.

I hold complete copyrights. I took every single photo in my collection. The images aren't as good as ones seen in coffee table books, but, at the time, I was using top of the line camera equipment, and had a decent photographer's eye. Very few shots have exposure or composition flaws. Some of the shots taken while I was actively handling an accident or incident are basically grab shots.

[WallyB]

However, they are all slides, I don't have any way to scan a slide, and they are in an archival, sealed box.

The good news is that slides are worth a lot more than prints or negatives. The bad news is that they need to be scanned in order to use one of the slide auction websites.

You might find a buyer via ebay for a collection, sight unseen, but you will realize nowhere near the same financial return.
I have a huge collection (and a scanner) but I can't be bothered to put them all up for sale even though a couple I did post went for mind-boggling (to me) $$. I've just put them in my will to go to the local air museum.

[PeterA]

I buy Spitfire slides regularly on ebay and typically pay in your currency from $1.5 - $7.5 each. There are sometimes exceptions on something real special and it gets competitive. Age of slides is 20-40 years old.

This will get you the best return overall but it is a big task to prepare them for sale.

I would employ an agent, possibly a young person, who could get a batch system going on a percentage commission basis that looked like yielding $x per hour's work.

I have used this system to dispose of general aeronautical collections I have been entrusted with by widows.

PeterA

[tinbender2]

Wow,

I had no idea there were auction sites just for aviation photos. Thanks for the tip. Doesn't look like my stuff has much competition, but it also doesn't look like anyone is buying much in this depressed economy either.

I found two more identical boxes of slides . I think they will just stay in storage for a few more years, unless I really get tight on storage space.


Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your help.

[Ztex]

My only concern with the storage of the slides would be their longevity. We have 1000's of slides around the house from vacations and such. Some were high quality Kodachrome 64, Kodak developed etc, they are holding up very well, they look like new. Others were Ektachrome, drug store developed etc... (some were developed in Europe) and they are fading fast. We have began scanning them as soon as we got the machine to do it.

Make sure yours are not losing their color or definition before you put them away again.

As to the copyright question, If the Uncle Sam paid for the equipment, film, development etc. could these be considered public domain, US serviceman, produced images?
If it was your stuff and film then I would think not....I'm not near smart enough to know the answers...just the questions...


That being said I would love to see some highlights of the collection.
Cold war stuff is way cool!


and...here's a photo sale site... wow $$$

http://www.aviationslides.com/geninfo/geninfo.htm

[The Inspector]

WallyB;

Please reconsider your idea of having your slides donated to the local airplane museum. After you depart this plain of existance and your donation is presented, that individual will be profusely thanked for the donation. The box will be moved to the back, then downstairs to a shelf and never opened. At some future point in time some person who has ascended to some level of power will decide that your still unopened box of slides is sitting on a piece of shelf where this other, newer thing needs to be, OR, the box lingers unopened until a pipe bursts or there is a flood and the now ruined slides go into the dumpster never opened. And we'll never know that one of those ignored slides that was never seen conclusively proved 'YES' or "NO' to a long burning aviation point of history.

ZTEX is right, about 6 weeks ago I came across three rolls of FUJI 200 slide I'd shot back in the late-ish 80's @ an air show. Took them in to have them developed just to see, and got back 108 baroque, magenta and purple frames filled with dark purple blobs that I think were airplanes. so even sitting in a dark box in a closet did them no good. And I know everyone has seen Uncle Floyds Ektrachrome slides from the early 50's that were all yellowed and faded out.

Computer slide carriers are pretty cheap, most will handle lots of slides at one time, it might be a nice break while your football team is getting pounded flat and you need something else to do on a Sunday afternoon.

[WallyB]

WallyB;

Please reconsider your idea of having your slides donated to the local airplane museum. After you depart this plain of existance and your donation is presented, that individual will be profusely thanked for the donation. The box will be moved to the back, then downstairs to a shelf and never opened. At some future point in time some person who has ascended to some level of power will decide that your still unopened box of slides is sitting on a piece of shelf where this other, newer thing needs to be, OR, the box lingers unopened until a pipe bursts or there is a flood and the now ruined slides go into the dumpster never opened. And we'll never know that one of those ignored slides that was never seen conclusively proved 'YES' or "NO' to a long burning aviation point of history.

It's a dilemma. I have scanned a few thousand which are on my computer, copied to CD and spread around some free photo hosting websites. I put some duplicates up on an auction site and while it was a small financial windfall I didn't feel it was worth the effort. That might be my innate laziness, but I can imagine how it could take over large chunks of one's leisure time.

I want to keep the unique originals but would be delighted to share them somehow.

[tom d. friedman]

Why don't you reach into the box and post a couple dozen @ random here? You could start another very popular site depending on what the audience (us) gives you in feedback, I'm always interested in new unseen stuff about aircraft-

That is probably the best way to determine any value. However, they are all slides, I don't have any way to scan a slide, and they are in an archival, sealed box.

I'm downsizing my stuff right now, and just wondering what to do with this 40lb, 2ft x2ft x3ft box of slides.
I don't really have time to work on them, but could, if there was some serious money in it.

I'm guessing there are around 20,000 slides, and at the time, I discarded ones that had technical flaws. It cost me .25 per slide back then, so I easily spent $5,000+ just in film & processing costs.

i have the same predicament. i'm brokering a collection of high level investment grade aviation items. the bulk of it has gone to phillip weiss auctions & will be sold from february to april 2011. one segment of the collection i have held back. it consists of thousands of negatives of aviation from the 20's to the late 40's. i examined every 1 over 2 weeks & have the shot eyes to prove it. some are published, some possibly unpublished, but i can be assured of 1 fact, & that being anything that was published at 1 time has been long out of print. i'd like some perspective on this archive, & what it's worth. offers considered.