Monetizing Antique Photos of Famous Person - Companies That Do This?

[etcetra]

I've found two unknown and one-of-a-kind photos of a famous person that were taken in the 1870s.

They were given to a wealthy East Coast merchant family as gifts as this person was staying in their home.

Descendants of this family later moved to my state and their last surviving family member's property was sold at a local auction.

One is inscribed on the back by the famous person, indicating their location. According to research I've done there are no known surviving documents connecting the person with this location so this would be the only item in existence.

Long term I think I could make a lot more money from monetizing the photos by having these images sold on various products as opposed to selling them outright as this person is famous in several fields.

Are there any firms that specialize in doing this?

I am not interested any firms that would be trying to sell these as stock photos for anyone to use such as Getty.

First the images would need to be photographed with high end cameras.

Then the newly created photos would need to be retouched for imperfections by an expert.

The next step would be to also produced a colorized version of the retouched images based on historical information.

This would require an expert as I am not interested in the result looking like one of awful early colorized movies or the amateur colorized photos you see online.

The idea would be to monetize black and white and colored versions.

 

[webestang64]

Never mind.

 

[cgw]

Sounds like an "Antiques Roadshow" pitch. Find someone who reputably appraises old photographs. The rest is up to you.

 

[etcetra]

Sounds like an "Antiques Roadshow" pitch. Find someone who reputably appraises old photographs. The rest is up to you.

I am not interesting in selling the original photos.

More money could be made from digitizing the originals and selling them on various products.

As an experiment I've previously sold a digitized copy of a vintage polaroid that I can cleaned up in Photoshop and printed on some 3-ring binders - that made $400 on Zazzle. Not bad for not knowing what you are doing :0)

These photos will require far more expertise in retouching them and producing colorized versions, such as knowledge of 1870s Century fashion for two countries. I've done research into that but it will require an expert.

These are not simply old photos, but photos of a famous person, which will require knowledge in multiple areas in which the person is famous. One for instance, is the only know original surviving document that connects the individual to a place on importance as according to sources I've read there are no known surviving items.

They will have to read the person's biography, which is not in English, either the 1930s edition or a modern era edition.

They will also have to read several other reference sources.

They will have to know the history of the family that owned them which only I have.

Much of the information these so called experts on the Antique Roadshow have is from searches they do on the internet while the episode is being produced. They are not sitting down and spending days or weeks researching the items. Antique dealers are not a omnipresent source of all knowledge - any old school antique dealer back in the day would have a back room with hundreds of antique reference books.

 

[cgw]

So spill: who is it? Otherwise, you seem to be answering your own questions and jonesing for free advice that otherwise might cost you. Contact a major auction house with photo specialists.

 

[Hardus Nameous]

So by "monetizing" I'm guessing you mean license it? I would think the first thing you'd have to do was have it authenticated, especially in this day and age of computer generated images. Then you'll have to somehow copyright it.

You're asking for a firm but honestly I think you need to talk to a lawyer about copyright and licensing. That would be the only logical way to go about this.

 

[cgw]

Childish resort to tantrums/insults...Reported.

 

[snowbear]

@etcetra - if you are still here, knock it down a notch. If you don't like what another member says, rather than confront them, use the "Ignore" feature.

I'll agree with what others have said - contact aution houses or marketing firms.