Photographers around the country are mourning the fact that a 16,000-piece collection compiled and owned by instant-picture company Polaroid will officially hit the auction block, making the collection “kind of an orphan,” photo critic and historian A.D. Coleman told the Boston Herald. The company recently won court approval to allow the auction, which was always considered a last resort, seeing as selling off the works in such a manner would make it nearly impossible to keep the collection together. Coleman, of Staten Island, New York, along with a coalition of fellow photographers, attempted to have the court delay the asset sale, but to no avail.

Polaroid’s extensive collection was formed via a kind of bartering system, in which the company would lend out its expensive 20x24 cameras to artists in exchange for a print. The deal attracted big names like Ansel Adams and Andy Warhol, among others. Beyond the fact that the prints will not be kept together as a full collection, contributors fear the auctions will spawn a sizable dip in the perceived worth of their work. Says Eileen Corwin, who has donated 29 photos to Polaroid, “If I have somebody come in to value my work, they could cite the auction amounts,” and not the prices they previously went for.

Read more at the Boston Herald.