OT: WWII photos...I gotta show them to somebody! UPDATE

P

Patentleathershoes

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I bought these at auction a few weeks ago. several albums of WWII photos...not a book...but actual photos...I was really excited about these.

I am going to shut up and let the photos do the talking. (i just picked a random few. i had such a hard time deciding what to show you guys.)

here we join two brothers...and their unit....as they make their way acrossed europe and participate in the battle of the bulge...

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/patentleathershoes/wwii_1.jpg" width=587 height=349>

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/patentleathershoes/wwii_2.jpg" width=600 height=405>

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/patentleathershoes/wwii_3.jpg" width=640 height=406>


<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/patentleathershoes/wwii_4.jpg" width=450 height=291>

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/patentleathershoes/wwii_5.jpg" width=600 height=379>

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/patentleathershoes/wwii_6.jpg" width=600 height=386>
 
I like looking at the old WWII photos I have several that were of my in laws when they met in Japan she was a WAC and he was a dentist/capt.

Thanks for sharing
 
Oh wow, these are fantastic Chris. I love old photos and these are exceptional ones done by an actual professional photographer right?

That one of the soldier smoking a cig next to the swatstika is my favorite.
 
I think i might post some more too...there is a whole little series of that soldier and the plan...standing on the wing, etc.. too..he and his brother "taking turns" pretending to fly it.

Now, one of them is William and one is John (i don't know which is which), but Wm went on to marry a research scientist - i actually own some of her handbags which i aquired a year ago. Yes, these are professional photos...or at least professional skill.. They were actually reprinted fresh as the negatives were starting to deteriorate before the negs were completely lost. ...so these are all clear prints. There are several very well organized albums..organized by William....and i also have a copy of his discharge papers and a whole binder of the surviving members of the battle of the bulge circa 1993ish. before he died.

first i heard that there was a photographer who followed a particular officer/regiment and took official photos of it and i believe that one of the bros was the photographer, as i know Wm. would have been a Pvt, so one of them would have been the photographer i believe. that all needs to be sorted out.

I did go higher than normal at an auction for these, but in this area, things don't go very high...so i didn't clean out the bank account : )
I bid out a few guys who were a bit perturbed about it though.
 
If you sell these, consider selling them in their entirity -- a collector will want all of them and they should be worth more as a collection rather than individually. THe ones you have posted are REALLY good. ANything that shows arms, vehicles, and human interest shots are worth double of the others, shots of soldiers standing in front of buildings get less interest, unless they are from obscure/famous units, like paratroopers. From what I can tell from what you posted, the 1st, 4th, 5th & 6th shots should be worth at least $10.00 each, the 2nd and 3rd, maybe a 2 - 5$ each. So add them up and put a HUGE reserve on the lot -- if you decide to resell.
 
That's my dilemma Jonathan....

There is no way i am splitting them up.(esp with the documentation that comes with it) ..the dilemma is deciding to sell them. my intention was to sell them, but when i got them in my hands, i kept not wanting to. "i will sell x yz first before i sell these!!"

there are 13 photos alone of the two brothers and the nazi plane like i was telling justine.

of course there are a few "duds" just like with any photos...but there are not really too many at all. there are a few shots of scenery and buildings that look like they are taken while they are moving and aren't as good....and there are a few "establishing " photos that might not mean much on their own, but in the context of the rest really help tell the "story" and you would want them if you owned the balance...showing tent barracks..etc.....and there is a few of the same marching scene in order to get the perfect shot...but either a lot of the duds were thrown away years ago by a perfectionist photographer or they all were just that good.

I have a 46 page photos album in front of me right now, three photos on each page (double sided...so 6 x 46....plus there is MORE.......a tray full of loose photos,,,plus two additional albums. one album is the same size. there is one other that has a few odds and ends in it.

I have to count and see what i have,...
 
what do you think i should do with the battle of the bulge roster.. ..since these are addresses and numbers of people that are potentially still alive, it would have to go with the collection unadvertised as i would not want to run into trouble with people being contacted??
 
I love photos like this and would probably end up keeping them.

That first pic I thought was a young John Wayne for a moment, and the last pic with the child in helmut, I would frame. That is my fav and there are so many elements to it.

Tough question on the roster...not sure what you should do with that.

Sue
 
Actually, why don't you take the bull by the horns and see if you can get in contact with any of the men whose names and serial numbers you have. Go through the veterans association. They should be willing to work with you. If some of them are still alive they might really like some copies to give to reminisce and pass on to their families. This is the generation that is dying off now, so hurry!
In exchange for some scanned copies, they might be willing to tell you who everyone is and where they were etc. The more provenance you have for the photos the higher and higher your price can be.
I had a BIG lot of photos similar to this a couple of years ago and I had enough provenance to make them interesting for several buyers to bid on them. I didn't count the crappy, blurry photos, only the good ones and placed a reserve of $125.00 on the lot (there were about 40 pics, all tiny snaps 2 X 3 inches, and half of them were blurry). I sold the whole lot for about $160.00, if I remember correctly. Also, they ended up going to Holland (It was a Canadian soldier who had taken the pics during the liberation of Holland). Europeans are mad for WW2 photos. I guess perhaps they have to rely on servicemen photos because they probably couldn't get film or developing done during the war.
If you have the regiment the men were in, you could contact the regiment archives and see if they have any info. Be up front and tell them you are interested in selling the photos. The regiment, if it still exists, might know of someone who is an archivist for their regiment and willing to pay appropriately for the collection. Usually there is someone around who is researching and writing a history of every regiment that ever existed. Look at the Band of Brothers mini series. Superbly well done, and that was based on research of just one battalion, from surviving members and their experiences. Also, it would be nice if you found the right home for the collection.
That picture of the soldier with the hand gun and the pic of the soldier at Berlin's Olympic stadium are both really great shots! You will do well, but do your homework, it will be worth your while in the end. It sounds to me like the collection is probably worth at least $500.00, probably a lot more, sight unseen.
 
PS: The guy who was the photographer was obviously quite artistic too -- I wonder if he was a professional photographer, although his lighting leave something to be desired, the composition of the photos are superb. That scene of the bombed street in Berlin (?) is the sort of photo curators love to blow up and use as wall murals in exhibtiions. It has excellent composition!
 
Nothing sensible to add, apart from these are incredible.
I love the Olympic stadium and the photo of the ruined buildings especially.
I find what happened to some cities during the war - Dresden, Coventry & E. London especially - so compelling tragic. My mother remembers seeing the glow in the West from Preston as Liverpool burned under the pounding it's port & factories received.

Apart from the 'bombed about a bit' Vienna in the Third Man, a couple of wonderful pieces of writing directly growing out of the ruins and the parallel psychological ruin of the inhabitants are Rose Macauley's 'The World My Wilderness' (just amazing) and W.G. Sebald's 'A Natural History of Destruction'.

Sorry, a bit of a tangent I now realise - but it's the tangent these inspiring photos send me on. They really are fantastic.
 
the story was that it was a pro (either in his civilian life or army life). The gentleman who is holding the gun is deceased. he is one of the aforementioned brothers who appears throughout. One of the brothers ..John...died in 87...there is one modern pic in the whole group that is of his gravestone...so that's why i assume these belonged to William,.... and the other one which would be William (i don't know which is which from the photos...but William was the last surviving and died just a few years ago). William's widow is also deceased, and i understand there really is no one else left as far as siblings, kids, etc...

I will see what i can find out...maybe start with the secretary etc....and maybe write a letter to the national association of battle of the bulge vets as i am not sure who is alive and not off that list as it was a few years ago..

looks like i have some homework to do.

I am going to scan a few more pics later just because its fun to look at,,
 
Another fascinating read is "The Berlin Diaries". It is taken from the journals of a Russian Princess who floated around EUrope until the war started and ended up being in Germany for the duration. SHe had aristocratic uncles and cousins scattered all over Europe. Her observations about the bombing of Berlin are fascinating. It's a "can't put down' book.
 
Jonathan that sounds like a really good read. Made a note to find the Berlin Diaries.

On the pic of the olympic stadium is that a Star of David I am seeing at the top. And I can't make it out is there something on the steps or is that shadows?
 
It looks like it, but I suspect it's just the slanting timbers of the scaffolding supporting the portico there. Symbolic though.
 
I didn't see the star of david until you mentioned, and it is possible that its sort of one of those (unintended) optical illusion things....cool and symbolic though.

I will have to look into those books...sounds like really fascinating reads..

Okay, i found some other really cool ones i have to share...as soon as i finish rug doctoring the house....:)
 
I kept wondering looking at how the star of David would have been up there. Then was thinking maybe this was sometime after the war???? But still couldn't figure how anyone would have put it up there even with the war being over. .

Makes for a very interesting picture!!
 
UPDATE
=====

I decided to take Jonathan's advice and research a little.

The auction house had no additional info for me.

I poured through the member directory, and connected the division on the discharge papers to the member list, and there were only 3 members of the Veterans group were from the 284th Engineering division, one being my late photographer and that was in the early 90s so who knows if the other two still survive.

I googled and googled and finally came to someone who had a website about the 284th Combat Battalion and contacted him,

It turns out that the Engineering Artillery and the Combat Battallion had the same # but were totally not in contact/related with eachother so were not even at the same place at the same time and probably never met eachother ever.

So for the moment, i have hit a dead end...

But my next step is to contact the veterans group directly. Their domain was for sale, which was not encouraging, but i will press forward.....

I have been thinking of writing letters to either of the other two names and address it to them or the family of just in case they have moved/died, etc......

The other thought i had had is putting a listing in my store (not for sale...just to be picked up by search engines).. with a few of the photos just on the oft chance that someone is searching out there for information like them just like I am, and that maybe we can find eachother and swap information through discovering me on the web....

or maybe on my me page...and see what happens.

Chris

(oh..and i'll show you guys a few more pictures, too!)
 
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