New Article on Heliar Lenses

[Songyun]

There is a Voigtlander Serial # date chart right at the bottom of my article.....see
http://www.antiquecameras.net/heliarlenses.html

Dan

Dan, Now I have a puzzle for you.
according to the chart, the Heliar lens bellow should be made in 1860

[Arne Croell]

Well, its not only Dan's chart. I have the "Fabrikationsbuch Photooptik Voigtländer" (in German) by H. Thiele which lists all the known serial nos from the production books in Braunschweig. Not many numbers have survived in that range, but Thiele places that number a little after 1862, too. That is of course not possible since the Heliar was developed much later. I think some worker just forgot to engrave an additional number somewhere. Assuming the real no. is in the 100000 range that places it between 1909 and 1923, which is in line with the Heliar production time, the mount style and the script style. Further assuming the last digit is missing it would be 1909.

[Songyun]

Well, its not only Dan's chart. I have the "Fabrikationsbuch Photooptik Voigtländer" (in German) by H. Thiele which lists all the known serial nos from the production books in Braunschweig. Not many numbers have survived in that range, but Thiele places that number a little after 1862, too. That is of course not possible since the Heliar was developed much later. I think some worker just forgot to engrave an additional number somewhere. Assuming the real no. is in the 100000 range that places it between 1909 and 1923, which is in line with the Heliar production time, the mount style and the script style. Further assuming the last digit is missing it would be 1909.

That is interesting, is it common to have the serial number missing one digit?

[CCHarrison]

I agree that the lens perhaps had a repair or something strange happen to the serial number. The lettering doesnt seem very crisp to me.... having said that, the font is typical of the 1902-1912 period.

[Arne Croell]

having said that, the font is typical of the 1902-1912 period.

Yes; also the fact that the focal length is given in mm, not cm, points to a manufacturing date before WW I.

[Songyun]

Ok, there was a 360 Universal Heliar on Ebay ended a moment ago, from it's serial number it was made in 20's, according to the article, Universal heliar was made from 1932. Any comments?

[cwe001]

Is there possibility of a fake Heliar ,the fonts look abnormal for Voigtlander barrels?

[Sevo]

A fake is extremely unlikely - Heliars aren't exactly cheap, but still way below the cost of individual production, and there are no cheap Heliar type lenses which might be dressed up as the real thing with little effort.

In any case, Voigtländer built Heliars in a variety of mounts, and only the brass barrel mounts have a fairly consistent design, with a rather oldfashioned font and looking electrically eroded rather than directly engraved. My 1916 Heliar in AlMg alloy mount has a comparatively modern, technical font, probably because they had to use different engraving gear, and the small camera Heliars used yet another font (or, on some Bessa 6x6es, a Bakelite front with glued-on label).

Sevo

[Steve Hamley]

More likely a "fake" list; an error or omission in the list numbers.

Cheers, Steve