>I would suggest that this isn't so. My aunt was one of the founders of the
>Boulder, Colorado Potter's Guild in the 1970's, and I learned that there is
>a vast difference in many ways between machine porcelain and hand-work. The
>potters I knew could distinguish them quite readily, as could collectors.
Bad exposition on my part. By "in kind" I was trying to say that a bowl is
a bowl is a bowl. Functionally, a hand made pot and a machine made pot
would in almost every circumstance I could think of be the functional
equivalents. Of course one can see a difference in the handmade vs the
machine made. It's part of the mystique.
.<snip>
>Unless a platinum paper co. did a massive publicity campaign, I think that
>the product would fade from the market very quickly, since pt. would have a
>look different from that produced by Kodak mini-labs, and being different in
>the mass market is oftentimes a recipe for disaster.
Possibly. One has to remember that in the early part of this century, there
were dozens of manufacturers making paper and developers to imitate the
"platinum look." I have seen more than one platinum print that was silver
bromide in hiding.
About two weeks ago a friend of mine bought a whole bunch of prints and
negatives at a small town auction. The photographers name escapes me. The
prints were from the early part of this century and some had the show
awards listed on the back so the photographer was trying. There were a few
platinums mixed in but the only way we could tell them apart was the good
old "tooth test."
I thought of leaving at this just to get folks all riled up about what was
the tooth test. Well, unles you just happen to have an x-ray spectrometer
handy, this is the handiest non-destructive way to find out if the print is
platinum or a Kallitype. Here's how you do it. Place a corner of the print
face down just between your upper and lower biscupids - third tooth from
the center - and very very gently bite on the corner and slide your tooth
back and forth just a teeny bit. If there is gelatin, you can easily feel
your tooth slide on it. If gelatin it is very likely not platinum. The
platinum print will feel a little gritty between your teeth. If done right,
it will leave no mark and be totally undetectable. I know some of the
fellows will disagree, but your teeth are the most sensitive ogan in your
body. I've done this when going through print drawers in galleries and have
found gelatin prints labeled as platinum, though I can't recall any major
artist's work. I don't recommend doing the tooth test while the gallery
staff is watching, however. <g> This is an old darkroom trick for finding
the front side of a piece of cut film in the darkroom when there are no
notch codes, BTW.
--Dick Sullivan