Lot 270…

(Screenshot from Swanngallieries.com)

Lot 270, from the auction house website:
“A series of four photographs showing how the police break into a safe.
Silver prints, the images measuring 7 1/2×9 1/2 inches (5.4×7.6 to 24.1×19.1 cm.), and the reverse, each with Weegee’s Photo-Representative credit hand stamp and his 47th Street hand stamp, on verso. 1940s.”

(They can be seen here.)

The photos could have been made by Weegee, or any of hundreds of other photographers. The paper is single weight and a little smaller than 8 x 10,” the printing is neat, borders are even, suggesting that Weegee didn’t make the prints. Each photo has two “Weegee” stamps: a “Please Credit Weegee From Photo-Representatives” and “WEEGEE, 451 W. 47 Street, New York, N.Y. 10036, 212-265-1955.” They are stamped haphazardly, with dark black ink, and the 451 address is clearly legible. They have the same stamps as Lot 271. These “Weegee” stamps don’t match real or authentic stamps.

If these are the same stamps that were used on the backs of the photos in Lot 271, then Weegee probably did not make these photos. Of course it’s possible that Weegee made these photos in the 40s and someone had the stamps made and then used the stamps in the 80s or 90s or even in the 21st century…

Another photo in this series was at an auction in the summer of 2017: