Who knows this camera : Sperling Germany ?

[Steven Tribe]

Arne, would that be FRD's or DDR's Berlin? I guess West Berlin - because of "Made in Germany".

[Arne Croell]

Arne, would that be FRD's or DDR's Berlin? I guess West Berlin - because of "Made in Germany".

It does not say specifically in the book article, but a free market entrepeneur starting up in the GDR in the 1950' and 1960's is not that likely.

[alex from holland]

Thanks Arne.

That maybe explanes why this camera is still in very good shape.
So it's not as old as expected. But no problem. I didn't payed that much.
It's still a very nice, good made camera

alex

[alex from holland]

Thanks, Arne for this info.

alex

[jwaddison]

It looks like it could be a true mahogany (a Swietenia species from Latin America or a Khaya species from Africa). At the time this camera was built (I'm assuming before 1960) there were about seven "true" mahoganies on the market, not counting the red merantis from Asia, which were later passed off as "mahogany". It could also be one of the latter, but I think the true mahoganies were more common at the time. There's nothing wrong with the meranti, it's a nice wood, but it's not a mahogany.

[Steven Tribe]

I agree it is definitely a variety of Swietenia - not one of the rather horrible "Mahoganys" now on the market. I was on a beach in Cuba in the early 90`s - no, I am not a US citizen! There was a small odd tree near the high tide level which was in a bad way and almost dead. We were in company with someone who was a long time resident. We talked about the sad fate of Cuba's mahogany trees. I asked about what the trees looked like and he paused and looked at the half dead tree. "Well" - he said - "they looked a lot like that" - pointing to the nearest tree. 30 minutes later we all had a genuine souvenir of a tiny piece of cuban mahogany - taken with a pocket knife from a detached branch. I can give a location/ map reference - but there have been a few major storms since then!