(Anonymous) 2006-08-04 11:46 am (UTC)(link)
Could they be hand-colored black-and-whites?

[identity profile] riofriotex.livejournal.com 2006-08-04 11:46 am (UTC)(link)
dang -that was me again. Too early in AM.

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2006-08-04 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
(cutting-and-pasting)

There were early experiments in color photography in the late 19th century. I ran across a Library of Congress website a couple of years back that had color photos of Russia (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/). IIRC, The guy had a specially modified camera with three lenses and three photographic plates to be exposed, and put a different color filter over each one. When the film was developed, you would show each photo with the appropriate colored filters over it, and aim the 3 projectors so the images overlapped on the screen, and you'd see it in color. The website had done the same thing digitally - tinted each view the right color and meshed them digitally. Which is why I'm not incredibly skeptical of this - it might be a variant of the same technique, or another early experiment.