Hi everyone! I'm in a bit of a pickle - when visiting an antique fair the other week, I bought a box of random photography gear, for one of the lenses that would be included in the lot. Apart from 3 lenses, two darkroom oil lamps, 2 small printing frames and 2 mystery pieces that didn't go with anything, there was half a camera in the box.

Now I'm a sucker for boxes, and all old things made of wood..... I feel so sorry for this little guy!


The pieces I have:


A lens and a film plane, a film holder with 2 pieces of ground glass and a base plate. All in mahogany with a lovely patina to them. The bellows (what was left of them) came apart in my hands, but whoever owned this half-a-camera before me has made a start on some DIY bellows by doing a paper mockup. I'm sure the bellows won't be the biggest problem as I'm quite handy with fabric and glue - and got plenty of spare time on my hands


The biggest problem will be sourcing the metal parts, in the right sizes. Apart from 2 little brass plates ALL the metal has been stripped from this thing, including hinges, knobs, standards, you name it. Besides finding the metal parts, I'll either have to make my own film/ plate holders or source some in a size 22 (2 pieces I have are stamped with this number).

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to source my materials? The plates that it will shoot are max 12 x 16.4 cm so overall the camera is not very big.
I'm not too bothered about historical accuracy, if it looks even slightly good and works, I'm good with it


Thanks in advance!!


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