$200 million price tag on "Ansel Adams" negatives highly questionable

During the 1920's, photographer Ansel Adams was the custodian of a lodge in Yosemite National Park, so it is no surprise that many of his most iconic landscapes were of features such as Half Dome and El Capitan. Now a California man, Rick Norsigian, believes the 65 glass landscape negatives he bought for $45 at a garage sale were taken by Adams. If so, one estimator puts their worth at $200 million.

There are a couple of reasons to doubt that this figure is grounded in reality, however. First, there is debate that these are indeed authentic Adams photographs.

Those claiming authenticity cite various pieces of evidence from their team of experts, which included, according to the Wall Street Journal, handwriting analysts, a photographer and an art adviser. None, however, were experts on Adams' work.