** UPDATED 6/28, 10 p.m. **
Attention all aspiring yard salesmen: be really careful what you put up for sale.
Why?
That dusty old box from the attic just might contain treasures worth millions. Just ask LA-based Rick Norsigian, who bought two boxes at a yard sale for a mere $45 10 years ago, only to eventually discover they contained prized glass negatives from Ansel Adams. Approximate value? $200 million.
Aside from the staggering monetary value of the find, the pics are practically priceless to art historians who study the famed nature photographer. According to David W. Streets, the appraiser and art dealer who will unveil the photographs at his Beverly Hills gallery on Tuesday, the photos were taken between 1919 and the early 1930s — well before Adams became a household name — and demonstrate how the artist honed his craft. The photos include shots of the Yosemite landscape and San Francisco landmarks.
“It truly is a missing link of Ansel Adams and history and his career,” Streets told CNN.
So how exactly did Norsigian come upon such a windfall? As with many great finds, quite randomly. The yard sale buff happened upon a sale in southern California in 2000 and became intrigued by two boxes he was told came from a warehouse salvage in Los Angeles in the 1940s.
Upon closer examination, Norsigian became intrigued by the plates that were individually wrapped in newspaper inside crumbling manila envelopes. He spent the resulting years trying to prove the worth of his find, and several experts back him up.
“I have sent people to prison for the rest of their lives for far less evidence than I have seen in this case,” said evidence and burden of proof expert Manny Medrano, who was hired by Norsigian to help authenticate the pics. “In my view, those photographs were done by Ansel Adams.”
Experts believe Adams might have lost track of the photos while teaching a photography course in Pasadena in the 1940s. The envelopes protecting the photo slides appear to contain notations from Virginia Adams, Ansel’s wife, say handwriting experts. And several of the photo slides are almost identical to more well-known Adams prints, which millions have admired for decades.
Despite the seeming authenticity, Adams family members question whether the pics are truly the real deal. Adams’ grandson, Matthew Adams, who heads the Ansel Adams Gallery in San Francisco, told The Associated Press he’s “skeptical” that the photos are legit, pointing out that many photographers shot the same landscapes featured in the slides, while another Adams representative said Norsigian has been on a misguided, “obsessive quest” for years.
But assuming the photos are true, this whole unbelievable tale just goes to show that the old adage is true, with a twist: one man’s trash can turn out to be everyone’s treasure.
Photo of “Merced River, Cliffs, Autumn” by Ansel Adams via AnselAdams.com.
