Strange Petzval (?)

[Mark Sawyer]

I think if B&J had made this then we'd have seen a few of them before, and also, why would a lens made/re-made in Chicago end up in Braunschweig?

B& J re-worked used and old-stock lenses, so a lot were one-off's. I have a 16" f/4.5 Cooke Portrait lens they re-worked, and I'm pretty sure it's the only one of those around. There was also the recently sold Pinkham & Smith they coated and painted black.

I don't know if that's what this is, but it's one more possibility, especially if it's coated. The mystery is probably more interesting than the reality. If we figure it out, it will just be "oh, is that all?"

[Tim Deming]

B& J re-worked used and old-stock lenses, so a lot were one-off's. I have a 16" f/4.5 Cooke Portrait lens they re-worked, and I'm pretty sure it's the only one of those around. There was also the recently sold Pinkham & Smith they coated and painted black.

Very doubtful it's B&J. I have a Voigtlander portrait-anastigmat they remounted. The original would have been in a brass barrel, the remount is in a more modern (1940s?) black aluminium barrel. They also didn't put the umlaut in the Voigtlander name in the engraving as in this example. If B&J remounted this one, I doubt they'd go to all the trouble to remake the late 1800's style barrel, and I dont think they would use the German spelling of "objectiv" either. If it was a remount job, it was likely done in Germany.

cheers

Tim

[Emil Schildt]

somebody wanted it badly....

$723.84

...

[Steven Tribe]

The slanted rack teeth visible in the third image are unusual. Does anyone know of any manufacturer who made such a focusing drive?

I don't know. Making a fake would hardly be a cost-effective scam, and I would think anyone going to the trouble would at least bother to find out what a real Voigtlander Petzval looks like.

An old thread - but I can add that the later Petzvals made by Emil Busch in the ROIA period (- and + year 1900) had exactly this angle cut gear track. It was also used on the bed of some classier German travel cameras. The double edged turning wheel is a copy of earlier french Petzvals, though! My guess is some Busch apprentices having fun using stock parts and access to a lathe around 1910

[Jody_S]

Here's the pictures, it's certainly an anachronism, the barrel looks 19th century but that name ring surely isn't 19th century. The whole thing is suspiciously new looking, like it was made recently.

I'm 99% sure it's a fake, but who made it I have no idea, it's clearly well made and I don't think it's been made from an original brass lens from the 19th century, looks like it was made in a machine shop recently.

Attachment 94718Attachment 94719Attachment 94720Attachment 94721

In the 3rd photo it is pretty clear the brass barrel was turned on a lathe and not very well finished.

[Steven Tribe]

In the 3rd photo it is pretty clear the brass barrel was turned on a lathe and not very well finished.

The presence of fine lathe tuning lines is not really a quality issue! In my collection of Petzvals, I would guess that 50% of them ( 1845 to 1910 ) have clear fine turning marks. There is a mixture of very fine "rings" under (Apparently) undisturbed lacquer finishing and differential weathering of lacquering showing up differences in the underlying brass surface.

I include a photo of both types in Hermagis lenses. Just ten years beteen these two and it is the cleaner barrel that is the elder one!

Whether this "rough" finish was company policy or up to the individual brass turner, I have no idea! Perhaps it was thought the brass was given a more suitable surface for holding the lacquer ( preventing "Schneideritis").