Peter Bonetti Press Photos What’ s Going On?

[Flaming Pie]

Apologies if this subject has already been covered on the forum in the past. On eBay at the moment a press photo of Peter Bonetti is currently at £ 255 with four days to go . Why? What’s going on Pete( Picture Palace) ?

[Dorking]

Only surprised it isn't £1255

It is Peter Bonetti after all!

[Flaming Pie]

Dorking, l know he was a good goalie and all that , but it’s all a bit odd. Could it be German collectors buying them after his 1970 World Cup performance against them? I think Banks had a bad stomach and couldn’t play. Is he a cult hero with the Germans , a bit like that old English comedians film( Freddy Frinton ) that they love to watch every Christmas?

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

There are 2 buyers involved with a few others hanging on by their coat-tails. I know the top 2.

1st buyer collects anything to do with Bonetti, not only photos. Bonetti can be in action, posing, portrait, for Chelsea, England whatever.

2nd buyer collects Chelsea 1960's & 70's action photos with a passion.

They clash often and when they do, up go the prices. 1st buyer has re-mortgaged his house at least once. 2nd buyer has lost his job, pleads poverty, then splashes out £200 on another photo.

The other Chelsea buyers, hanging by their coat-tails, don't have a chance against these 2. It's only if a photo doesn't meet the above criteria, or if one or both of them have it already, that the photo might be sold at a more normal level.

However, the canny Ebay traders know what's going on and tend to start their Chelsea photos (with or without Bonetti) on EBay at £30, £50 or even £100, and so the other buyers are forced to pay those sort of prices even if the top 2 aren't interested.

Their alternative would be to visit PPP and befriend the seller who promises not to exploit their situation and would be happy to sell Chelsea photos at the same prices as other clubs - if he can get hold of them!

Maybe one of the eBay sellers who frequents FPC can give his experiences of this.

I don't know the seller of the photo in question but it meets the full criteria and is a fine shot of Bonetti - anything could happen! Interestingly, his terms say "Collect in person" from Ceredigion. That will test both No's 1 & 2 buyers!

[Flaming Pie]

Thanks Pete, great stuff. l thought you would have a idea what’s going on. When you think about it, this is really quite fascinating . I think someone could get a TV play out of this! I have posted a Tranmere v Chelsea FA Cup newspaper pic from The Big Freeze winter of 1962/63. It started on Boxing Day 62 and seemed to last until March 63. Bonetti was in goal that January 63 day for Chelsea. I am standing on the touch line. Going by what you said, the original pic must worth a few Bob!

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

Yes, Pie, that would be a nice original press photo to have. But only one of the 2 major protagonists would be interested. The others might get the price up to a higher than average level though.

The one originally in question on eBay ended tonight at £311, with buyer #1 outbidding buyer #2. That suggests to me that the market is ebbing as 2/3 years ago it would probably have hit 4 figures. Buyer #2 might still be looking for a job.

While, doing what I do, I like to see these high prices, this activity has really distorted the market with sellers on Ebay thinking that all press photos must be worth 5 times their real value and thus pricing at £10 minimum photos I can't sell for £3 or £4.

[Flaming Pie]

Pete, l know you explained what’s going on,, each to their own and all that, but still can’t get my head around why they are paying such prices. Why would that rare Woolwich Arsenal v Man City pre First World War , which l gave to a relative to sell a a couple of weeks ago, make £155, yet that Bonetti pic makes £311? Can’t believe that a few years ago the Bonetti pics could have fetched three or four times that price! I can understand if they were photos taken by Man Ray, Cartier Bresson or those Beatles photos by Richard Avedon ( l’ve been on Wikipedia ! ) or the other great photographers. Financially, they would probably be real investments. Can’t see the Bonetti photos ever holding these type of values, but what do l know ! Speaking of The Beatles, here’s an interesting photo of The Rolling Stones visiting fans at a local hospital. Despite the bad boy image , they were probably good guys really. The girls were injured in a car crash. When the lads found out they went to see them before they appeared at The Majestic ,Birkenhead in 1964. One of girls kept the skin from the banana that Brian Jones had eaten until it perished. The pic has probably not been seen since it appeared in The Birkenhead News. Haven’t got the original, this is just a copy.

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

I know, it makes no sense. 2 egos that can't stand to lose.

One has a huge Bonetti collection, Lord knows what he's paid for it.

The other has a huge collection of Chelsea action photos from 1960-1980 ish. Again, no idea how much has gone West on that.

Between them they must have paid six figures.

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

I meant to add, there's a chap on here who lives in the USA and specialises in baseball photos. There's a huge market for them in the USA and depending on the photographer they can go for mega bucks.
Sought-after subjects would include Babe Ruth, Jo Di Maggio, Shoeless Joe etc.

But they are no rarer than original (for instance) Dixie Dean, George Camsell and Cliff Bastin press photos and images of those guys, while very collectable, don't fetch anything like the Chelsea sums.

Again

[Flaming Pie]

Pete, l did have what was considered to be the first photo of Dixie in an Everton jersey. It came from a relative , who was a member of the school /college team that he played against for The Blues. Now that went for a few quid. I often think l should have kept it really, but l suppose a lot of us think that about stuff we have sold in the past!