UBB.threads Forums Uniform & Accessories German Military Uniform Forum Wow.....

Giday Eric,

You and me both!

Best wishes,

Ian

Whoa. $500 for that photo is a lot of money. Even with the camo para in a studio pose, I wouldn't have thought it was worth that. Then again, how many studio portraits do you see with camos? What are photos of Confederate soldiers going for now?

Giday Chris,

The J�ger that is the subject of the portrat is Ludwig Retzbach. Retzbach was a member of Sturmabteilung Koch and participated in the capture of one of the bridges over the Albert Kanal on 10 May 1940.

I believe that the portrait photograph was taken some time during the latter half of 1940.

Retzbach was subsequently assigned to the 2nd Kompanie of the Luftlande Sturm Regiment in August 1940.

On 20 May 1941 Retzbach participated in the glider landings made by his company on the island of Crete, where he was subsequently wounded and taken prisoner.

Retzbach later saw action in Russia and Italy, the latter as a member of Fallschirmj�ger Regiment 12.

Many of those who bid for this photograph, including myself, own other photographs of Retzbach, who was an avid photographer. I myself have well over 200 photographs of Retzbach and his commrades.

I hope that this helps put in to perspective the price paid for this photograph. Having said this I am most interested in reading what others think about the price the winning bidder has paid. Do you think that he has paid too much for the photo?

Best wishes,

Ian

I think when we're talking about image prices, only in rare cases (such as a known personality) is the subject himself the determiner of value. As with Civil War photos, it is the elements of composition in the photo, the quality of the image, and the content. Studio portrait photographs of FJ wearing smocks and helmets typically command about $200 on today's market. In this case, I think the fact that the subject is wearing a rough texture camo drove the price up -- you rarely see that in a studio portrait. But the subject himself in this case is not famous enough or notorious enough to drive the price that high, regardless of his personal qualities. I would have thought $300 would have been about right on that particular image. I think this is a case of "you can't pay too much, you can only pay too early."