I have a 15" in very good condition - but it doesn't seem to carry any serial number. Any suggestions on where it could be hiding?
I have a 15" in very good condition - but it doesn't seem to carry any serial number. Any suggestions on where it could be hiding?
The layout of my objective data, halfway between the flange and the double ribbed iris ring, is :
1st line : 18" PORT - LAND F 6.8
2nd line : SPENCER LENS CO. BUFFALO, N.Y.
3rd line : 843
The engraving is "centralised with uneven margins" directly up from the aperture line.
It is not very deep cut - reminds me of the faint engraving on black TTH process lenses. The aperture numbering is even fainter. The quality and "sticking abilities" of the black enamel doesn't appear to be the best!
Hmm, none of that on my barrel. Might if have "washed away", or is it some other odd barrel I have there?
Well there must have been a considerable design change as it is very unlike mine! I enclose the seller's photo of mine. I would suggest that your later model is without any serial number data. Those that have listed their numbers in this thread have all numbers that are less than mine so they probably have the all black model too.
And, of course, this change in appearance must have been at the same time that Port-Land became Portland as your front definitely says the later!
Ah, that makes sense. And would you know when that happened?
Well Russ Young said "The Port-Land (PORTrait-LANDscape) came into production in 1911 and had lost its hypen (Portland) by 1920." But I don't know how much this is guesswork or whether he has dug up contemporary data in connection with his "soft/plastic" lens dissertation. The date he gives for the change seem likely. My port-land looks very much like a big voigtlænder heliar I have from around WW 1, whilst your "Portland" style looks more like the competition from Graf Variable which got underway around 1923!
I enclose a photo of E.Weston with the 16/18" Graf Variable. This too has double rims on the heavy raised aperture ring, very clear front lens rim engraving with very distinct black enamel/plain metal sections.
There was no guesswork, Steven, this was a doctoral dissertation after all.
It is based on Spencer's advertisements.
Russ
I didn't intend to cast doubt on your sources Russ! Many theses, including my own in Social Psychology, are model and theory building based on barely quantifiable data . Nice to know that a comparison with the styles of known objectives came up with a near correct date. Can you confirm the style change occured at the Port-Land/Portland watershed in 1920 and that later lenses are without serial numbers?
There were at least 3 designs for the port-land/portland! The first with Port-land seems to be with a run of about 1,000 (serial numbers) as all the reported sn are under this figure. The second was that shown in this thread - without sn - with the text on the metal front without serial nr. The third can be seen as long term offer on ebay at present which has a similar identification - extensive engraving with more data - on the internal front rim. Serial numbers numbers have returned! Very high numbers suggesting a new producer with lots of other irons in the fire. Models 2 and 3 could have been models 3 and 2 (chronologically).
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