Is this photograph of the Arizona rare?
 

My Mom stumbled across this photograph at a yard sale last week and bought it for a dollar.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2mey2ax.jpg

Granted, it's obviously beat to snot. I spent at least an hour looking at pictures of the Arizona, and of the Arizona transiting the Panama Canal, and couldn't find an exact match anywhere online. Part of me wants to think this photo is a one-of-a-kind treasure, but the other half wants me to think it's a piece of junk.

Any ideas, folks? :hmmm:

I'd say scan it and then pack it away somewhere. You'd hate to find out later on that you tossed out a piece of history.

I couldn't put a finger on it's worth, but I'm glad the Japanese didn't sink the Arizona in that spot.

Well, seeing as you put it online, it's not very rare anymore :O:

Yeah, would've messed up both the Pacific and the Atlantic, especially as the area between South America and Antarctica is chokepoint central :-?

I can't say what's it worth, but I can 10000% be sure that it's not junk.

Put it in a safe box, no sunlight, no humidity (as low as possible).

Agreed.

Here's a high resolution scan I did of the photograph, warts and all:
http://thumbnails113.imagebam.com/46...4462509983.jpg

As long as you recognize the difference between rare and valuable.

Of the hundreds of photographs that were probably taken of the Arizona, this may be one of the less common ones.

I doubt that it has a financial value due to the condition and the composition of photograph itself, so don't keep it with a fantasy of it being an investment that will pay off in the future.

Is that any indication of who was the photographer? If it was someone famous, that may garner some small financial value.

One option is to get it professionally mounted and lend it to one of the Arizona memorial societies. That way people who are interested in it can see it and you still have ownership. I have done that with a few small museums/societies and they have always been appreciative.

This is some very fine advice. Good Karma. :yep:

I also agree.
If the museum goes for that lending agreement.

Navsource.org has some other photos of the Arizona in the Panama Canal in 1921, but not this one.

Based on the original cage masts, this photo could be from that transit though. The following photo even has a very similar layout (sun awning behind the aft turrets).

http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/013985.jpg