Scan Talk # 3 – Not all glass negatives are equal

UNDATED – An unedited scan of a 10 x 14.6 cm glass negative shows a lake near Plön, Germany. Scan by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com

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Glass negatives

In a previous Scan Talk post I’ve written already about glass negatives and how to scan them, and I encouraged you to try it as well (if interested at all.) Yes, please go and get an affordable glass negative, discover the ultimate quality of antique photos, and preserve it for future generations.

Before head to your preferred (online) antique store please understand that there are basically two types of glass negatives floating around, and I hope that this post will help you picking the right one. I did not know this when I started working with glass negatives, but I’ve learned my lessons and am happy to share my findings with you.

To get started pleae take a look at the typical mass production process of so-called “photo postcards” – from the original photo negative to the finished “genuine photo” postcard. This process was common for black-and-white postcards from about 1905 to the late 1960s. The alternative would be rasterizing an image and using a print press to print the rasterized image onto a postcard, but this is a different story.

In principle, the original photo (on a glass negative, a large film negative, or a 35 mm film negative) was printed as a large print. Possibly edits were made and text was applied. This edited variant was reproduced on a glass negative plate which (going forward) was the “master copy” for the respective postcard. To print a postcard, all you needed to do was creating a contact print of that master copy negative plate. Once finished, the negative plate went to the archive for future use. (The back of the postcard got the standard layout for postcards and usually a “genuine photo postcard” label of sorts.

It’s easy to see why these postcards were marketed as “genuine photo postcards” (or “echte Photographie” in German): technically, they were genuine photo prints, created from a (glass) negative, with all the benefits, especially a higher range of shades and (usually) a superb sharpness.

Why is this important when you are looking to purchase a glass negative?

Well, it’s important because you now know the two glass negatives types involved in the process process:

• The “original” negative (created in step 1)
• The “master copy” (created in step 4)

While the master copy is technically a glass negative (and still of much higher quality than a rasterized image) it still is a dervative work, a copy. It is NOT the original image. Yet, these glass negative plates are sold as “glass negatives” as well. Again, I am not blaming the vendors, because the term is technically correct. It is a glass negative. But the quality does not remotely reach the quality of an original glass negative from step 1.

That’s why you should be looking for an original glass negative, i.e. the glass plate that has been used in the camera to capture the image at the time of shooting. These images are closest to what the photographer had in mind when shooting the image. They have highest quality and do not show any edits or “improvements” – they are “as is”, often damaged (at the edges), maybe not perfectly illuminated, and have aged over time. But this can be corrected as needed/wanted.

Here is a summary to help you distinguish original glass negative plates from derivative glass negative plates:

Visual appearance	Original Glass Negative	Derivative Glass Negative	Rationale
Caption, logo, or design elements visible	no	very likely	Captions, logos or design elements were applied during editing (step 3), so the glass negative is probably a derivative
Visible edits, e.g. edges of buildings or objects have been manually improved or altered	no	possibly	It was common practice to manually improve low contrast during editing (step 3), so the glass negative probably a derivative
Edges of the negative show significant damages	possibly	rarely	Original glass negatives are older and more fragile and thus more prone to damages
Black border surrounding the image content shows shape of film mount	possibly	no	A black border showing the shape of a film mount was usually removed during editing so this can be an indicator for an original negative plate (step 1)
Handwritten notes at the edge of the frame	possibly	no	Handwritten IDs usually were removed during editing so these can be an indicator for an original glass negative plate (step 1)
Multiple images on a single negative plate	no	possibly	Multi image postcards were composed from multiple bespoke photo prints (step 2) so the glass negative must be a derivative.

While I’d recommend working with original glass negative plates for utmost quality, working with derivatives has advantages as well. Usually some visible issues have been removed during editing, so the glass negative may look better than the original. What’s more, a caption is usually pretty accurate and helps you to find the exact location today if you want to write about it or want to do a side-by-side comparison.

In any event, it is fun to work with glass negatives, so go get one. Prices are between 5 and 20 Euro per glass negative. In rare cases you may find lots for less than 5 Euro per image, but these are typically original family photos (of people you don’t know) or derivatives of regions you’re not interested in. But they should be sufficient for getting a first impression and gathering experience.