This sounds rather odd, but when my grandfather passed away a few
years ago I was cleaning out his possessions and came across a very
old adult (porn) film, in 16 mm format. He was in the film industry
himself, and I suspect he likely had this since the 1920s or 30s.

At the time, my wife was working for a film editing company, so we had
it transferred to tape. It appears to be - by my estimate - from the
1910s or 20s (based on dress and film style) and is extremely graphic,
particularly for its time (without getting into details, it includes
two women and a man, fornication & fellatio). In fact, it even had an
artistic bent to it (the man?s fantasy is realized when a woman walks
out of a painting and joins him in bed).

I would estimate that it runs about 5-7 minutes long.

I was told that this could be extremely valuable due to its age &
rarity. Truth be told, I have had it for about 7 years without having
thought about it until recently, and thought that perhaps I would
investigate its relative value and how I would go about selling it.

I don?t want to just sell it on eBay for fear that it won?t get the
relative value. If I were to sell it on eBay, I would want to at least
put a reserve on it within the range of what it should sell for, to be
safe. But I don?t even know what it might be worth.

So, this is a two part question. First, please provide me with the
name (or names) of reputable auctioneers, or services that could sell
this on my behalf. My instinct tells me that this would likely be
companies located in California, since that seems to be the mecca of
that industry.

Second, any sites that would sell similar items or would help me get a
sense for what the range of value could be for this item would be
greatly appreciated.

huh... if that thing is worth anything, let me know. I know were you
can get boatloads of that type of material (overseas). The film is
generally not in good condition but there are thousands of rolls so
there's got to be some that are OK. Don't know if it matters but think
that the majority (if not all) were/are European made.

elids,

Not sure if I understand what you mean that there are "boatloads" of
these available - I'd be selling the original film, not the video
copy. There are other items I have - including old (late 1800's) glass
slide 'adult' (XXX rated) images that I found with this film. Maybe
I'm missing something (and certainly haven't spent much time
researching this), but if these things are so prevalent, why aren't
they selling on eBay? In fact, I can barely find any "antique" items
in eBay's mature section. Thanks.

Hi Dunnowhat, 

I?ve traveled extensively through America, seen and been to just about
every non-touristy there is, for instance most people go to Bolivia
visit some of the old Tahuantinsuyo empire ruins and go home, I go to
the out of the way attractions the worlds largest salt flats just a
couple hundred miles from there. Done stuff like that all over
America. In two of these nations they have small theaters with many
divisions inside that make for private viewing rooms, in those rooms
they show x-rated material most of the stuff is very old but some of
it is truly ancient, I?m talking silent movies era. In one of these
places I befriended the owner who showed me what they (his family) has
accumulated over the last 90 years or so. It is a huge, huge room with
stuff that is just sitting there. The films have been played countless
times and eventually just retired because they are so old. They don?t
get rid of it they just store it. Storage conditions are not the best,
luckily the area is rather dry so I don?t think there would be a lot
of issues with the films themselves other than they are very old and
played a million times, so they are likely scratched like you see in
those very old films.

Anyways, if it turns out that these things are worth something, I'd like to know :-)

I have no idea if your film is of any value, but I can tell you that
Christie's branch in Paris held an auction in April 2006 of "Books,
Manuscripts, Designs and Photographs" of erotic materials from the
16th to 20th centuries.   This was the collection of a single
collector, but you may be able to find out from them whether they plan
any more auctions in this realm.   The catalog is in French, but, at a
glance, it doesn't appear to include any films.