Of no particular importance

[Shawn Pixley]

Admittedly, this is not worth the time it will take to write it. I caught a part of Pawn Stars on the history channel last night. They showed a seller with a print of the plans for the electric chair at Joliet, IL. The issue was, "is it real (original)?" Their expert maintained it was authentic.

So what's the deal, you ask? The plan shown was a blueline (diazo - blue lines on white paper) as opposed to a blue print (white lines over a blue background). The electric chair was built before 1928 according to Wikipedia. Diazo (bluelines) really wasn't used before the 1940's and wasn't common before the 1950's. To me, it seems highly unlikely that it was an original print from the original construction. It seems much more like a more recent blueline print from the original vellum. Recent in this case might mean the 50's, 60's, 70's.

I don't know why these thing bug me, but they do. I'm not arguing the value / desirability of the piece. It has no intrinsic or cool value to me at all. But I prefer accuracy.

Rant off now.

[Phil Thien]

I don't know why these thing bug me, but they do. I'm not arguing the value / desirability of the piece. It has no intrinsic or cool value to me at all. But I prefer accuracy.

Rant off now.

I agree with you 100%. Though I don't know much about blue printing, stuff like that drives me nuts, too.

[Bruce Page]

Like watching a WWII movie where the troop motorcycles all have disk brakes...

It drives me nuts too.

[Jim Koepke]

Good catch Shawn.

I used to repair what were sometimes called white printers by some, blue printers by most.

Amazingly many "experts" know little about the different printing processes, or other processes for that matter, used over time.

It could be possible to have made a blue line print from a negative, though not likely.

One of my clients during my days as a field tech had a file of masters and prints in the machine room. There was a particular original that I liked to use because it was a large negative of some land division map. I always used it to test the machine to look for complete development. I would then crumple it up and toss it in the bin. One time I got distracted and left it on the counter. About an hour later my pager went off. When I called dispatch to see what was up, they had received a call from the client wanting to know where I found that print. They had been looking for the original for years. Guess they never looked in the bottom drawer.

jtk

[Mel Fulks]

Interesting . Good work. A "reality" show with a fake expert !

[Ken Fitzgerald]

That's a little harsh Mel. Experts are human and can make mistakes too!

[Mel Fulks]

True, Ken, but in view of our other thread regarding the real ness of "reality shows" it seems relevant and reminds us that even real things can be wrong.

[Art Mann]

Several years ago, newscaster Dan Rather brought out a printed document on the evening news that was supposed to have revealed something really bad about President George W. Bush's military service. I can't remember what it was. The document was placed on line for all to see. My wife took one look at it and instantly declared it a forgery. She is an expert in typography and knew that the font used in the document was not available at the time the document was supposed to have been typed. Sure enough, it turned out to be a complete fake and Rather lost his job as anchor of CBS news over the incident. What I took away from that little experience was that "experts" don't always know what they are talking about and one should verify things for themselves if they really want to know the truth.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mel,

There is a significant difference in meaning between "fake" and "mistake". One is intentional...the other is by accident.

[Art Mann]

I'm not sure what you mean but I wouldn't expect that Dan Rather "faked" the document himself, although it is obvious he desperately wanted it to be true. He was taken in by unreliable sources. He made a mistake with his lack of due diligence.

[Jim Matthews]

I don't know why these thing bug me, but they do. I'm not arguing the value / desirability of the piece. It has no intrinsic or cool value to me at all. But I prefer accuracy.
Rant off now.

You want accuracy from Scorn Porn?
It's not reality if everybody is wearing makeup.

[John Coloccia]

There is enough musical, firearm and technical stuff that has passed through that show that I feel comfortable declaring it nonsense. Its nothing but entertainment.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Part of me thinks - they're a pawn shop - they don't need it to be correct, just good enough to convince the next guy they sell it to at a markup . . .

[Pat Barry]

There is enough musical, firearm and technical stuff that has passed through that show that I feel comfortable declaring it nonsense. Its nothing but entertainment.
Of course its entertainment. I love that show.

[David Weaver]

Part of me thinks - they're a pawn shop - they don't need it to be correct, just good enough to convince the next guy they sell it to at a markup . . .

Bingo, a seller needs to be one step smarter than the buyer. They don't have to be museum conservator correct.

But, this goes to a discussion I had with someone from work last year. We were both wondering out loud if we'd all be a lot happier if we were all dumber and less critical of things literally because we didn't know any better.