Your Oldest Lens

[Steven Tribe]

I can't improve on my oldest photographically usable lens, but here is a new one from, at latest, 1825. Of some optical history interest, too!
Fraunhofer had a short and dramatic career within optics, both practical (glass production and telescope/optics making) and theoretic (spectroscopi - Fraunhofer dark lines and defraction).
The manufacturing quality is way beyond anything I have seen before (UK makers!)!
The achromat has a focal length of 45cm, diameter is 3.5cm, giving an F of 12.8.

[SamReeves]

Oldest lens overall is on a turn of the century big black box camera. For the field camera it's a Nikkor 150mm which I bought in 1999.

[tonkhang]

My Voigtlander serial no 1585

[tonkhang]

My oldest Jamin Darlot with cône centralisateur serial No 3387, with Hermagis Eidoscope No1

[Andrew Plume]

.............some great early lenses here fellow members

my oldest is almost certainly serial no: 2200 by M Lerebours and also bearing the inscription 'Vallantin Opticien de 1840 a 1851', where that places the serial no regarding the likely date, is beyond me but I'm hoping that Steven or Garrett or some others can possibly chip in and assist

no, it's not up for p ex at Bievres next month, that's if anyone desires it............

andrew

[goamules]

Andrew, I like those Lerebours too, but I've never found a serial number index. I say "1845-1855" in my notes, generally. The Vallantin connection is interesting, and would probably narrow dates down. Don't know off the top of my head.

[Steven Tribe]

Vallantin IS correctly spelt! I found him on another named objective from the same period /Westlicht auctions. He was also a photographic inventor with french patents at the end of the 1850's. Lerebours was a big import article into the UK during the 1850's at the same time as Jamin and before - but there is no known serial number/date list.

[Andrew Plume]

Garrett, Steven - very grateful, as ever

best

andrew

[alex from holland]

Last saturday i was able to buy a "new" Hermagis for my Hermagis "collection"

It turned out to be one of the oldest Hermagis Petzvals.
It has no serialnumber which indicates it's an early one, but it is dated on the glass, 1856.
They started using serialnumbers at aprox 1860.
some pictures can be found here : http://collodion-art.blogspot.com/20...t-bievres.html

Alex

[eddie]

I got a nice Jamin cone centralissuer (sp) serial number 147.

I got some other very old and collectible French lenses that I can not date. One is a Lachlan.