Came upon a German tripod labeled H.J. Riess on my flea market tour today. Quite the bargain really. Came with a Sinar pan/tilt attached (all tabs are intact) and cost me 50 euros. Everyone knows what the Sinar head is and what it does, so I'm just going to talk about the tripod.

It's a very sturdy tripod. As you can see from the tiny-looking Sinar head attached to it, it's also very bulky and heavy.
The interesting part is the center column. It's raised (a healthy 50cm, no less) by using the lever in the first picture. The lever turns about 20 degrees and "pumps" the column upwards. The lever in the second picture (in the position it is pictured in) keeps the column from dropping down. Turn the lever to the other side and the column falls down. And it doesn't just fall down. It's also air-dampened (like PA speaker stands), so there's no chance of breaking the camera if your hands slip.

Nothing interesting turned up after a bit of searching. A few mentions about the brand and how it's usually disregarded as a misspelled Ries.

Any guesses on what it might fetch on eBay? Never selling this gem, just thinking.