SCP Auctions, Inc.
Timed Auction

2024 Fall Premier

Wed, Nov 6, 2024 01:00PM EST - Sat, Nov 23, 2024 10:30PM EST
  • Americana, Entertainment, Politics & History
  • Photographs
Lot 332

Shocking 1968 Execution in Saigon ("Death Captured on Camera") Famous Pulitzer Price Photograph - PSA/DNA Type 3

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In 1968, Associated Press photojournalist Eddie Adams captured one of the most shocking photographs ever captured on film, "Execution in Saigon." This horrifying but historic photograph shows a South Vietnamese general seconds away from executing a Viet Cong officer who had been captured wearing civilian clothes during the Tet Offensive in 1968. Numerous versions of the justification behind the summary execution depicted in the photo have circulated in the decades since, but whatever the background was, this image has become one of the most poignant and terrifying images to come out of the Vietnam War. Eddie Adams won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph, and no documentary, article, or book on the history of the Vietnam War is complete without including a reproduction of this photograph. The majority of the images from the Vietnam War photographers were transmitted via telephone lines to their U.S.-based publishers, and this TYPE III wire photo is such an example of that practice. As such, Type 1 photos of this shot are incredibly rare (only 3 known - with the last selling privately for over $75,000). This original wire photo is one of the only ways to obtain a period-printed example of what has become known to history as "Execution in Saigon.” The Type III image measures approximately 8" by 10" and has been printed to its edges with caption printed along the left border. The reverse of the photo has a DEC 30 1969 date stamp, “FILE COPY” label, and various pencil notations including “PISTOL” hand written in pencil. Encapsulated Type III by PSA/DNA.

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