George Mallory's Everest Film (or Fake?)
Posted: Jan 12 2007 5:47 am
I thought this might be of interest. I found it on Kovels.com antiques website.
A $15 FIND WORTH $50,000 OR A FAKE?
Check the facts. An article we just read online at expeditionnews.com claims that in 1991 Bill Warren bought a toolbox at a flea market for $15. It held five cans of 16mm films, one labeled “Everest.” He bought a 16mm projector and saw the Everest film was a “complete production of George Mallory’s climb to the summit of the mountain in 1924". It had subtitles. Now Warren wants to sell the film and has been told it could be worth up to $50,000.
We love stories of finds like this so we checked further. George Mallory died on the mountain in 1924 and his body was not found until 1999. His campsite was found but the camera was not. Experts say if the film was in the camera in the snow for a long time it requires special processing. So we wonder how pictures of the tragic 1924 climb could have been on old film for years and never recognized. Did someone steal the camera off the mountain, then never tell? Great finds—a $15 purchase worth $50,000- are rare and this one needs a lot of explanation. We have learned to be skeptics. When it is too good to be true, it usually is.
A $15 FIND WORTH $50,000 OR A FAKE?
Check the facts. An article we just read online at expeditionnews.com claims that in 1991 Bill Warren bought a toolbox at a flea market for $15. It held five cans of 16mm films, one labeled “Everest.” He bought a 16mm projector and saw the Everest film was a “complete production of George Mallory’s climb to the summit of the mountain in 1924". It had subtitles. Now Warren wants to sell the film and has been told it could be worth up to $50,000.
We love stories of finds like this so we checked further. George Mallory died on the mountain in 1924 and his body was not found until 1999. His campsite was found but the camera was not. Experts say if the film was in the camera in the snow for a long time it requires special processing. So we wonder how pictures of the tragic 1924 climb could have been on old film for years and never recognized. Did someone steal the camera off the mountain, then never tell? Great finds—a $15 purchase worth $50,000- are rare and this one needs a lot of explanation. We have learned to be skeptics. When it is too good to be true, it usually is.