Are the old photos of the founding of the Republic of China valuable?

Old photos are a true portrayal of past social life, and current events are recorded in the language of photography. The clearer the picture, the more representative it is and the higher its value. Old photos of the Great Wall, the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Bund in Shanghai. Are sought after by collectors. They are of great reference value to the study of urban development and architectural history in various places. They are not only loved by individual collectors, but also collected by many museums, and their prices naturally rise.

Among the early photographic works, folk photos are the breakthrough of simple portrait works, and the earliest works out of the studio, which is of great value to the study of social customs at that time. Many folk photos of China street taken by early foreign professional photographers in China sold for1000-2,000 dollars each in the international auction market.

Second, the larger the size, the higher the value.

Due to the limitation of early photography technology, there are not many large-size photos. The larger the photo size, the more difficult it is to save. Therefore, the auction price of many large-size photos with good appearance exceeds 10,000 yuan.

In Guardian's auction in recent one or two years, several different panoramic photos of Shanghai were all more than one meter in length, with the highest transaction price ranging from 30,000 yuan to 40,000 yuan and the lowest exceeding 10,000 yuan. In today's antique market, few photos of the Qing Dynasty are larger than 20 cm square, and larger photos are usually several thousand yuan. General scenery or group photos during the Republic of China, with a length of more than 30 cm, 1000 yuan or more; More than one meter long photos of the Republic of China are all over 4000 yuan.

Third, the fame of a photographer or studio is very valuable.

The same or similar photographic works, with the logo or signature of the photographer or studio on them, can be judged to be the works of famous photographers, and the price is naturally higher than similar works.

In the international auctions of China's early figures and folk photography works, such as the works of the famous photographer Thomson, many of them exceeded $2,000. In the early days of China, there were basically no professional photographers, mostly commercial photographers in the studio. Hongkong and Yichang in Guangzhou are the earliest famous studios in China. Gong Taihe and Su Sanxing in Shanghai, Bird and Liang Shitai in Tianjin are also famous. If you can determine the works of specific studios, the natural price is higher than that of anonymous works.

Fourth, the inscription adds value.

There are two kinds of captions for photos: one is printed on the back plate, and the other is written on the back of photographic paper. In the process of printing photos, photographers in China often add relevant captions by hand. These inscriptions truly and accurately explain the time, place and content of the photos. Because some of the inscriptions and postscripts combine the traditional calligraphy art of China, they also add China color to the photos and artistic features of the photos. Photos with such inscriptions are even more valuable.

Of course, in addition to the above four factors, the value of old photos is also related to whether the photos are published or collected by famous artists. Yan Bingxue said that if it is a pure documentary old photo, the undisclosed price will be higher than the public one. But if it is an old photo with high artistic content and has been published, its price will be higher. If an old photo was once a collection of a famous artist, its price will naturally rise. If the photo is accompanied by the collector's signature or inscription, its price can go up a step.