Historic & Vintage Photography
Guaranteed Authenticity of Every Item
Industry's Lowest Buyer's Premium
Historic & Vintage Photography
Guaranteed Authenticity of Every Item
Industry's Lowest Buyer's Premium
You must register for the Auction before the final day of bidding. It is easy, quick, and free and can be done on our website. We can also register you over the phone at (614) 551-9758.
An Industry Low Buyers Premium of 7.9% will be added to the final bid amount. Example would be if you win an item with a bid of $100, your bill for the photo will be $107.90 plus shipping. NOTE If paying via paypal a convenience fee of 3% will be added to the total at the end of the auction when you click to pay using this option.
RMY Auctions accept Checks, Money Orders, and Cash to our door if you live near Boise, Idaho or want to visit the most beautiful City in America! We do offer paypal as a convenience as well. We no longer accept credit cards.
At RMY Auctions we believe firmly in matching the right photo with the right home. We like to think that we are caretakers for these pieces of History and not really "owners". It is important to us that if someone finds a photograph that they have been looking for, or depicts a family member or is of particular interest to a specific individual that we do everything we can to make purchase of this item possible. As such, we offer a full ONE MONTH to pay your Auction invoice and in other instances, possibly longer. There is no credit check or interest on this, and we do not need to "know you" it is just a service we offer to our fellow collectors in trying to make it possible for you to purchase each and every item you want, and make sure that they all go to the right caretaker. If anyone wishes to discuss this with us, please feel free to call or e-mail.
(Domestic Shipping) We offer a two-tiered shipping charge to our U.S. customers in order to better serve you and save money. All subtotals (before buyers premium) that total over $150 will ship USPS Priority Mail shipping for $10. While other auction houses and companies have raised their shipping recently, we have lowered ours by 25%! This rate covers materials, labor, and shipping charges as well as a Lifetime Guarantee LOA with each photograph. The $10 shipping charge is for as many photographs as you win! Invoice subtotals below $150 before the buyers premium will be sent via First Class Mail for $6 (Once again a decrease in the previous rate) plus the value of the insurance.
(International Shipping) is offered to anywhere in the World, but the charges will be based on weight, method of shipping, and value. These international shipping charges will be determined at the end of the auction. This generally starts at $12.95 and can go up from there, but we will do our best to work with our buyers to provide the safest and most cost effective method based on the rates for your particular country.
We start all our lots at $25 no matter how valuable the items might be. We believe in letting the market decide the value. Any unsold items will be available on a "First Come, First Serve" basis after the Auction by calling or e-mailing us directly, and their availability will be at the discretion of the consignor or owner.
We do not use estimates in our auctions but would be happy to talk to potential buyers and give our opinion of the fair market value or expect end price of any item in our auctions.
Bidding increases will be accepted in increments of 10% above the current high bid. There are no exceptions to the bid raise amounts. There are several bidding options:
Our software ensures that Consignors are not allowed to bid on their own items. We have also designed our software so that we absolutely can't see any ceiling bid, EVER. This is an absolute rule and our software makes it is impossible for this to be broken! Unlike other auction houses, your ceiling bids are absolutely secure at RMY Auctions!
RMY Auctions uses the MOST secure auction software in the world designed by Create Auction LLC. There is no back door where anyone can ever see your password, maximum bid, or even if you have placed a maximum bid on an item. Other software providers can have these functions turned off, but there is always a way you can see this information if you really want to. With Honest Auto Bid from Create Auction LLC., there is absolute peace of mind that your high bids will be known only to you!
Monthly and Premier Auctions will begin and end at set times which are varied from month to month (E mails will be sent when the auction goes live and on the final day of bidding as a reminder). It is encouraged that initial bids be placed early and often. On the final day Beginning at 800 PM Eastern Time on the auction closing date, bidding will be extended in accordance with the terms of the "15-Minute Rule" (with all items ending at the same time). After 800 PM Eastern Time, "Time Left" in the user interface will count down in real time the amount of time remaining until such time as no lots receive even a single bid for a period of approximately 15 minutes, at which time the auction will officially close and "Time Left" will read "Auction Has Ended." We would LOVE to spend time over the phone explaining it to you so there are no surprises on Auction Night!
Placing a bid in the auction constitutes an acceptance of our terms and conditions and is a legally binding contract between the individual bidder and RMY Auctions. We strive to be the most flexible Auction Site in the Industry, but please take your bids seriously.
It is the goal of RMY Auctions to sell as many lots as possible. As such our goal is to never have reserves. On rare occasions we may offer an item of particular interest or historical importance with a reserve. In these instances the fact that there is a reserve will be clearly noted.
We will send e-mails to the address used when registering to notify if you have been outbid on a photo. We are also excited to be able to offer outbid notifications via text message as well!
There may be items that are owned by RMY Auctions for sale at any given time. Any individual who wishes to receive a list of these items may request this information and it will be given them automatically, no questions asked. Since we stand behind all our items (whether owned or consigned) for life, we do not see this as a conflict of interest but will disclose it to all potential bidders so that they may keep this in mind when bidding. If anyone has questions or concerns about this policy, please feel free to call or e-mail us and we would be happy to discuss it with you.
To help protect the investments of the consignors, as well as the potential owner, we watermark all our images. While the mark is made as small and transparent as possible, we recognize that they are sometimes a bit distracting when viewing the lot and apologize for this in advance. Please rest assured these marks ARE NOT on photos themselves. We also have decided to not watermark the backs so they can be clearly examined. If any potential buyer wishes to receive a scan of an item without the watermark, we will gladly comply with this request.
Photographs (especially Press Photos) need to be viewed as Utilitarian and functional tools of an industry (more like game used equipment ) and not viewed the same as Baseball Cards, Stamps, or coins in regard to condition. These were part of the production process in Newspapers, Periodicals, and other forms of artistic media and as such they will show signs of this use in varying degrees. No two photos were ever the exact same size and quality and many were trimmed down by the original photographers to fit the needs of specific clients and others may have been trimmed by the end party (newspapers etc.) for their specific needs. Others were often colored, enhanced with pencils by tracing the image, and even die cut for specific editorial purposes. When evaluating these photographs and describing condition flaws, size is never a factor as well as original editorial marks. These will be mentioned in the description (if detectable) but will not be part of the "grading process" as they do not represent "flaws" but are part of the living history of the item. We can only grade and evaluate what we have before us and as such it is important to rely on our knowledge of the item, but also to also do all appropriate research and fact finding from the buyers end too, before making any purchase. It is also through this philosophy that we will never take the backs of photographs into account when grading and evaluating the image. With antique photography, the more stuff on the backs (stamps and captions) the better so nothing will be graded down due to back issues unless the issues show through to the front of the photograph and affect its aesthetic appeal.
The grading of vintage photography is completely subjective and used by RMY Auctions as one of many tools for a potential buyer to evaluate the items they may wish to purchase. Our grading scale is listed below and represents a ground-breaking attempt to help standardize a new industry when scans are sometimes just not enough! We have been shocked both pleasantly and unpleasantly in our years of buying and selling photos at the way they scan and the descriptions people use when evaluating an image and this is an attempt to help alleviate that pain. Sometimes a photo looks great in a scan and the person describes the flaws but in person they are much worse than they appear. Sometimes also a person may list a long list of flaws to be safe and might get a beautiful photo in mail that is much better than they thought. The gelatin surfaces of photos sometimes also make them look much worse on a scanner than they do in person! This grading process is an attempt to help standardize the industry in COMPANIONSHIP with Scans and Descriptions!
Please consider our technical grades as a "helpful opinion" and a part of the buying process and not the definitive authority on whether the photo is good for you as an individual. For evaluation of condition we recommend FIRST viewing the image thoroughly, SECOND read the description for mentioned flaws and THIRD look at the technical grade. We grade our photographs on a scale of 1-10. This is broken into two categories each holding a 5 point weight for "Condition" and "Quality".
Refers to the physical condition of the print once it left the hands of the photographer. This takes into account wear, creasing, pinholes, breaks, missing segments, staining, soiling etc. The lowest a photo can be is a 1/5 and that would indicate a severely damaged photo with little eye appeal. A photo that grades a 5/5 can still have some minor corner wear, slight curling or rippling from the gelatin surface and some slight handling wear when tilted to the light but it looks aesthetically like it did when it was produced.
Once again, the reverse of the image, possible trimming at one time and any editorial marks (or removal of marks unless they have damaged the photo itself) will not be factored into the "grade" but will be mentioned in the items description. Our "opinion" on the technical grade of the photo will never be a basis for a return of the image. Please ask any and all questions about any items that may be of interest before you bid on an item.
Refers to the image quality and this is a determination of how crisp, detailed and clean the image is.
The condition grade and quality grade are listed individually within each lot and then added for a number grade out of 10. For example if a Photo is quite nice but has a few minor creases and a pinhole it might get a grade of 4/5 on condition grade but it might be slightly off register and get a 4/5 on its quality grade for an 8/10 overall. Similarly you can get an 8/10 by having a perfect condition photo that is off register (5/5 condition and 3/5 quality) or the other way around (3/5 condition and 5/5 quality). This is a process that has taken years to develop and we feel is a good indication of what is important when an individual decides whether they are interested in a photograph!
Photo Authentication is a tough deal and we recognize that. The systems in place now were great in the beginning stages of this industry to give it some structure, but as the World of Photo Collecting has evolved, the system needs to as well. We have taken the good aspects of other systems and have morphed them with a much more thorough and comprehensive approach to photo authentication at RMY Auctions. This system is very much like the old ones as there is no need to reinvent the wheel, but it will give collectors much more piece of mind in knowing EXACTLY what they are getting when they purchase vintage photographs.
This is an original photograph produced from the original negative within approximately five years of the photographer taking the photo. This is a subjective analysis on the years involved but offers a better window of time to be safe than other systems which say it is limited to "2 Years" but in many cases authenticate based solely on stamps and back marks would could be used for up to 10 years. We have not arbitrarily come up with this number. After viewing over 2,000,000 photographs we feel that it offers a better window for paper and back stamp analysis when concrete dates and paper captions are not present.
This is an original photograph produced from the original negative within approximately 5-10 years of the photographer taking the photo. This is essentially what collectors already use in many of the current systems in place, but again helps collectors differentiate between one made a few years after the original was taken and one that was made by a photographer with the original negative yesterday, mostly in absence of concrete date stamps and paper labels.
This is an original photograph produced from the original negative within approximately 10-20 years of the photographer taking the photo OR dates prior to 1950, whichever is later. For example, a 1915 Photo of Babe Ruth with the Red Sox made in 1936 when he retired from Baseball, or the same photo from 1948 when he died would both be in this category as they both have strong collectability and are far superior to one made yesterday in somebody's photo studio.
A photograph taken after 1950 and after approximately 20 years of time has passed since the original was taken. An example would be a 1951 Mickey Mantle Rookie Image developed in 1975, or a 1982 Cal Ripken photograph developed yesterday. These are images that might still have display appeal for framing or to a specific individual but have little or no value beyond their image quality alone.
We will not give this a number, let's just call a Wire Photo a Wire Photo and not worry about a number or fancy name for it! These will be graded as either "Wire" (meaning it is vintage) or "Wire – Non Vintage" and be given a 5 year window to be graded a vintage image.
Same authentication as Wire Photos with "vintage" being an original (no 5 year period needed) and "copy" being a copy negative.
Same authentication as Wire Photos with a five year window and "Vintage" or "Non-Vintage" being used to identify the age.
Will be a qualifier for images that are NOT from the original negative but will follow the same rules for age as the "Vintage 1-3" as listed above. So a 1915 Babe Ruth photo in Red Sox uniform that was editorially enhanced and then re-photographed and developed IN 1915 would be a "Vintage 1(b)" indicating it is original to 1915, but done from a copy negative. NOTE Some photographers would themselves do this and we feel to reclassify their own work is arrogant and pretentious. If George Grantham Bain took a photo of Honus Wagner in 1910 then took it back to his studio and developed it only to find a fan in the background doing something inappropriate and then HE touched it up and HE took photo again and developed the copy negative, is it really fair to then re-classify his work as inferior since the final product is what the photographer himself gave us as HIS finished work? We believe not and as such we will not use the (b) qualification if there is concrete evidence (through photographer's stamps etc.) that the original photographer did use the copy negative and produced it within the time tables listed above.
It is our goal at RMY Auctions to specialize and expand the buying and selling experience of vintage photography. We would love to talk to any and all collectors and answer questions. We will ALWAYS offer FREE opinions on photographs through scans or in person to ANY registered bidder! If you have an archive or photo you wish to sell, or simply learn more about, we would love to hear from you whether it is 1 photo or 10,000,000 photos, we LOVE to talk about vintage photography! With any questions, concerns, or comments about anything we have please feel free to contact us at: