You knew the inevitable backlash had to come against the Ansel Adams trove supposedly authenticated with a $200 million valuation. The high number brought the news media but it also raised the possibility that the authentication was a publicity stunt. The Wall Street Journal gives a summary of the doubts starting with the estate:

But an heir who remains involved in curating Mr. Adams’s work said he was doubtful. And Bill Turnage, the managing trustee of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust, said he didn’t believe the photographs were the work of Mr. Adams. “We don’t think they look like Ansel’s work,” he said. “Do you have any idea how many people were photographing Yosemite in the 1920s and 1930s? Millions! It could be anyone.” […]

“The negatives aren’t worth anything, even the 44,000 at the University of Arizona, because Ansel isn’t around to print from them,” said Mr. Turnage of the Adams trust said. “The only authentic Ansel Adams works of art that are around are the ones that he printed.” […]

Mr. Adams said that one area of discrepancy emerges from misspellings on many of labels, presumably written by Virginia, who lived in Yosemite for much of her life. Mr. Adams said he was surprised that, after so many years in the region, she would misspell names such as Bridalveil, one of the most prominent waterfalls in the Yosemite Valley.

Ansel Adams Trove, or a Pile of Glass? (Wall Street Journal)