A question, if I may. When you say that you "have come close" to finding footage of Greb, what does that mean exactly? Is that a case of finding a Greb reel that's disintegrated beyond repair, or is it a case of "somebody has footage but is not sharing"? In other words, what I'm asking is: is there a respectable chance that there's actually footage out there of him?
LOL there have to be black leather trenchcoats and monocles involved somehwere! I have a feeling that there's a box of old film reels in an attic somewhere ... probably disintegrated.
It’s not anyone’s responsibility to share their property. If you owned a classic car would you let the community drive it or selfishly horde it in your garage? Same concept. I would hope the owners one day would release things for selfish purposes but if not so be it.
Fair enough, I'm a member and uploader at the WBVA, not a big deal member, but still, I believe in sharing. That said I also believe in not screwing folks over and I do think even if 20k was an off the cuff remark you might want to look into the actual worth of your fights. Because my original reaction to your back and forth with Butts was very much a business minded reaction. I was thinking 20k is quite low for how much fella is bragging about his rarities. Seems to me if you can be the distributor for certain fights you are sitting on a goldmine. I think I could turn Greb fights into more than 20k. You must mean a bootleg collection right? The only way I can figure you figure your collection is worth what you paid for it is because you have an illegal collection you can't actually distribute, right? Assuming they are all bootlegs have you looked to see anyone ever controlled the distribution rights, or film rights, to the fights you have? You might be in position to pull a copyright claim on some of them and be the distributor for them because no one else is, or has. 100k views equals 340 dollars in youtube ad revenue alone, but what's really interesting I think is the money you could make on the Amazon marketplace. Charging folks for the right to have a digital copy in their digital library. If you set the price for a Grebb at .99 cents you're only looking at 20k buys to recoup your entire investment. I do honestly believe one unseen Grebb could get 20 buys alone, worldwide. On top of this, I do not believe you have anything to lose. If you have originals you still have originals and by flooding the market with copies you've made your originals worth that much more. If all you have are digital originals guess what? Star Wars that bull and offer only remasters or some such similar edited from the original nonsense what preserves your original's status as the unedited source material. Anyway, obviously, I'm interested. If you really want to sell for 20k because you have 20k into it, and you don't care to look into what it might actually be worth, and you're fine with me doing it, how about you PM me what you have so that I might be able investigate and if the business of it checks out? Yes I do have 20k.
Privately owned fight films derive their value based on scarcity and access control not originality of the copy. If collectors gave them away the value turns to nothing. You can see a photograph of the Mona Lisa or read a copy of Action # 1. That's the rub, it is what it is and who ever owns them has the option of choice. It's not really debatable. I don't see it as any big deal. The vast majority of what would interest me is either available or has been lost to the ages. I'm pretty sure that 99% of what private collectors own by this time are of fighters we have been fortunate enough to see in other films opposed to a Greb Walker or a Jeffries Corbett. Thanks to the Youtube and internet archives we are very fortunate to see as much as we do.
What are you talking about? I think you should think about that a bit more. https://gazettereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/de-kooning-interchange.jpg <----Free Digital Copy The original last sold for 300 million. 300 million, making it to my knowledge the most expensive bit of art ever sold. Copies make the original more valuable. They're like advertisements people pay for. Especially in art.
I have not read every single post in this thread. Has the thread starter's question been answered. How much do the rarest fights sell for? I mentioned one of the best private collections out there for $250,000.00 I don't see any single fight eclipsing the $25,000.00 mark, but then again if your a very wealthy person, I've seen garbage art sell for a lot more than this. Does anyone know the unofficial record for a boxing film purchase?
I'm referring to fight films not art. What is the highest recorded ( if this exists ) price on a fight film sold that has copies out for all to see ?
I'll put in an offer like I'm serious with HBO for the rights to Tyson and use that as a base if no one can get us an answer. We might could get some sense of what it's like to own the top from there.
I think the issue is that that money is spent on copies, not original reels, a lot of the time. I think the reels tend to degrade a lot. I think the reason a lot of the old footage online is so bad is because it's stuff that's been copied from VHS to VHS so many times. If you had a first generation copy, even a digital version of it, it'd look way better.
So I checked e-bay. you can buy the below for $48.00 or less, buyer beware you need a power cord. Nothing rare here, maybe the Godoy fight is uncommon as long as it not vs Joe Louis New ListingEleven Super 8mm vintage BOXING FILMS Eleven Films all on Super 8 mm film from 1925 thru Frazier-Ali III. Also including: Dempsey, Tunney, Heeney, Gibbons, Baer, Braddock, Carnera, Loughran, Ross, Armstrong, Zale, Graziano, McLarnin, Canzoneri, Ambers, Valdez, Jackson, Moore, Johnson, Patterson, Marciiano, Louis, Robinson, Lamotta, Schmeling, Walker, Godoy, Frazier, Ali, All in Good Condition. Projector included, but missing power cord $48.00 0 bids Free shipping Ending Sep 20 at 7:57PM PDT6d 13h (Thu, 10:57 PM) or Best Offer https://www.ebay.com/b/8mm-Boxing-Film-Stock/63821/bn_591660
Im not sure what you are talking about. I didnt say my collection was worth $20,000. I said thats what Ive spent on films in the past 8 months or so. I dont know what my collection is worth nor do I care beyond the fact that I know its worth something, and worth a lot to me, and that if I spend $500 on one film put it on youtube, Amazon, or whatever, its suddenly free because it can be capped and shared the world over. You know this because you are a member of the WBVA. My collection is worth what its worth to me. If you think Im bragging about my rarities thats your perception. I said thats what I enjoy collecting. I also made it clear that some things that I collect I cant imagine anyone else having any interest in. In fact, I have no illusions over the fact that outside of a few boxing nerds, if I were to find a Greb film there wouldnt be much interest in it outside of being a curiosity piece. If I say Ive got something rare and you take that be bragging thats on you. Ive said many times over: Im not special, anyone who devotes time, money, and effort to this hobby can have what I have. My biggest issue with people like Butt is that I started this hobby with nothing, literally. I worked very hard at it, over time spent a lot of money, and devoted a lot of time to it. Literally anyone can do what ive done if i can do it. But Butt wants me to do all the work, invest all my time and money, and then sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor. And make no mistake, despite his protestations to the contrary thats exactly what hes crying about. So for me to merely say I have this or that is not bragging or dangling some carrot. Just go out and get it it. And this all presupposes that I have an interest in marketing films or delivering them. I absolutely do not. My collecting and my ability to find films already makes me money. I have no desire to work harder than I do, take a gamble that I might make a little more money, and dump my entire collection on the net. Im smart enough to know that the sport is too small, and interest in old obscure films is too small to really be able to make such a setup worth exposing it to pirates.
No, you are wrong. An original film of Harry Greb would have less value, not more, if that film were featured on YouTube. This is because the vast majority of people just want to see Greb fight. Owning the film itself is just a pain in the ass. Its big, bulky, nearly obsolete, and prone to issues in regards to preservation. Most people, and I mean 99.999% of people dont care about film, they care whats on it. If they can watch it on youtube for free the mystery is gone and they are less likely to pay what you paid to be able to see it.
