BAUSH & LOMB OPTICAL CO. 5X8 TESSAR Ic value?

[Brad Bireley]

What would the value of a BAUSH & LOMB OPTICAL CO. 5X8 TESSAR Ic be? The glass is nice, some cleaning marks and dust. The barrel is worn.

[Oren Grad]

IIRC I paid about $25 for mine, at a local camera show/flea market.

[William Whitaker]

In barrel or in shutter? I was curious, so looked up Ebay completed auctions. Prices seem to vary widely, although I think Oren's estimate is more realistic.

[Oren Grad]

To be clear, mine's in barrel. Asking prices on eBay for B&L Ic's in barrel are sometimes absurd, but I doubt many of those result in completed sales.

[goamules]

The word Ubiquitous comes to mind. As in common as a Kodak Brownie. They're great lenses, but several things going against it. It's not very long, so is only for 5x7 or 4x5, and it's not in a shutter. So you have reduced the already small world of film shooters, to LF film shooters, to 5x7 shooters. Demand is very low, supply is very high. I have 2-3 Tessars, and I just keep them. No one has to know they take excellent photographs.

[Oren Grad]

OK, I need to correct. My 5x8 B&L is a IIb. I also have a 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 Ic, 5x7 Ic and 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 Ic, all in barrel, and a 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 IIb in Volute. I obtained all of them at bottom-fishing, flea market prices.