Local Character – Shelton Chen Compiles Rare Collection Of Famous Portraits

Shelton Chen dons a pair of dove-white gloves and meticulously begins surveying the latest additions to his ever-expanding collection of rare and increasingly valuable portrait prints by late Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh.  He leafs through a folder of photos, stopping to scan an image of Walt Disney posing with a movie camera.  On the next page, Muhammad Ali pokes out his famous jab.  His eyes dart around each photo, searching for imperfections. 

When he finds one I expect him to express his disappointment, but instead his eyes light up as though he’s hit the jackpot, because, as he explains, a too-perfect print is often a glaring sign of a forgery.

“If there’s defects in it, then you more or less know it’s okay, because pictures don’t last,” he stresses.  “They crack, they discolour.  That’s a natural occurrence.  If anybody tells you they have a Churchill but it’s in mint condition and it’s signed by Churchill and signed by Karsh and they want $15,000 for it, then you have to make sure what you’re looking at it.  If it’s 100 percent original, then you give them the money.”

And as Chen readily admits, money is something he’s easily removed from when he spots an image that would suit his collection.

“What I have here I call crazy,” he says with a smile.  “I’ve been spending money for the past 15 years.  And I have here what I call the greatest portrait photographer work by Yousef Karsh.

The humorous owner of Hit Camera And Video on Avenue Road has travelled across the world to purchase the majestic prints that now hang in the back of his store.  He won’t think twice about jumping in his car and driving all day to check out a photo.  If it’s not to his liking or he suspects it’s a fake, he’ll turn around and head for home. 

He’s even flown to London England to attend Christie’s auctions, where out-of-control bidding wars have been known to break out, driving the price of a piece into wallet-busting reaches.   But most of the time people come to him, knowing his reputation as a serious collector. 

It’s the auctions, online, or live, that end up costing him the most. 

“It’s an open market.  Whatever you are willing to pay for it, whatever someone is willing to outbid you, that’s what happens to it,” he adds with a fatalistic shrug.  “If you think it’s worth that much money, then you’re paying for it.”

As Chen recalls, his obsession started with a single purchase. 

“The first one was a Hemingway, and then I just kept saying to myself, ‘There’s another one coming up I’m going to buy, and another one, and another one, until there were many, many hundreds.”

He bought that first photo of the dark, burly novelist for $108, and now assesses its value at around $8,000.

But the world of collecting is fraught with stories of lost money due to sophisticated copies of what otherwise look to be original prints. 

Chen learned that the hard way. 

“I’ll tell you I’ve been stung too many times now with copies,” he admits.  “You can look on Ebay there’s a lot of counterfeits.  You have to be careful.  If a guy is asking too much you have to ask why. If a guy is asking too little you have to ask why.  If the picture is too clean, you have to ask why.”

Chen’s collection boasts hundreds of rare prints, but there’s one that stands out. 

The photo of a grumpy looking Winston Churchill has become the stuff of legend after a young brash Karsh had the gall to snatch the cigar out of the Prime Minister’s mouth right before making the famous exposure.  It remains one of the most reproduced photos in history.  

“I can tell you the most significant is the Winston Churchill,” Chen confirms. “Churchill is the most famous.”

“Then you got the Hemingway next to it, which is another thing that is significant.  Then I have Jacqueline Kennedy, Frank Lloyd Wright, I have the Pope, Jacques Cousteau, Bertrand Russell.

And while Chen’s collection sits largely unnoticed at the back of his store, he has a plan to assure the world takes note of the rare portraits he’s spent so much time and money acquiring. 

“The AGO is going to get this all (when I die),” he notes.  “It’s spoken for.  I don’t need the money.  What are you going to do with the money?”

michael.talbot@citynews.rogers.com

Hit Camera And Video Ltd.
Telephone:416-783-1740
http://www.hitcamera.ca/
1923C Avenue Road, Toronto Ontario, M5M 4A2