Some Soft Focus Lens Sales Information

[Jim Galli]

BURKE & JAMES Rembrandt Portrait Lens 10" f/4.5

US $840.

181132490309

These are a mystery and the fact that B&J managed to reference anything at all relating it to Pinkham and Smith in the original ad has had people buying them for dumb money ever since. I doubt any 2 of them are even alike. Somewhere in the ad it does say it's a petzval. $840 was at least $550 more than it's worth, and sets a very high benchmark for a total unknown crap shoot. Be nice to get 8 of these mystery pieces together in one place at one time and analyze them, and write a piece about them for some future reference. For now, it's just, what will you pay for a crap shoot that the ad in a 1965 catalog fluffed up with a Pinkham Smith reference. $840 bucks???!! Really??

[alex from holland]

Hermagis eidoscope no2 f5 $ 1432,= 360652215637

[SergeiR]

Wollensak Velostigmat Series II 12 Inch f/4.5 Soft Focus Lens in pneumatic shutter with flange for $163 ... soft focus ring stuck at 5 ...

Well.. it just needed a bit of love, just as suspected - unstuck after 15 minutes of dorking around. I think someone tried to do something to it b/c "hazing" mentioned in description was actually some residue of stuff that i cant completely take out even with my usual chemicals.. But then again - it is a soft lens, and it just adds a bit to softness . Now i just need some way to figure how to fix slow speeds

[Amedeus]

Nice looking Kodak Portrait Lens, 16" on lens board for $981 (251274204539)

Nice looking Wollensak Verito 14 1/2" with flange and lens cap for $1,035 (251275255576)

[Steven Tribe]

Eddie says:

Holy crap! Look at all that sh1t on the rear group!

This kind of fungal growth never attacks the kind of glass used on Cooke triplets. Better an untouched lens and one with an unskilled clean-up in connection with a sale (cheaper too!).

[Joe Forks]

I set my snipe at $259 and went to bed. Imagine my surprise the next morning at $840, hahaha, all I could do was laugh at "someone".
Well the packard was worth at least $59, thus my "high" bid.

These are a mystery and the fact that B&J managed to reference anything at all relating it to Pinkham and Smith in the original ad has had people buying them for dumb money ever since. I doubt any 2 of them are even alike. Somewhere in the ad it does say it's a petzval. $840 was at least $550 more than it's worth, and sets a very high benchmark for a total unknown crap shoot. Be nice to get 8 of these mystery pieces together in one place at one time and analyze them, and write a piece about them for some future reference. For now, it's just, what will you pay for a crap shoot that the ad in a 1965 catalog fluffed up with a Pinkham Smith reference. $840 bucks???!! Really??

[goamules]

On the Bunke&Junk lens, shoot, there are 2-3 sleeper soft focus lenses on Ebay right now, with very low buy it nows. That ARE soft focus lenses, whereas the B&Js are known to be anything and everything. I wouldn't pay 300 bucks for it, too much risk it's probably a cheap Tessar prettied up by B&J.

But this is small change for some glass collectors. How about this RR lantern globe for $10,000? 121106679685

[evan clarke]

These are a mystery and the fact that B&J managed to reference anything at all relating it to Pinkham and Smith in the original ad has had people buying them for dumb money ever since. I doubt any 2 of them are even alike. Somewhere in the ad it does say it's a petzval. $840 was at least $550 more than it's worth, and sets a very high benchmark for a total unknown crap shoot. Be nice to get 8 of these mystery pieces together in one place at one time and analyze them, and write a piece about them for some future reference. For now, it's just, what will you pay for a crap shoot that the ad in a 1965 catalog fluffed up with a Pinkham Smith reference. $840 bucks???!! Really??

Yes, I was on this for a while but $200 was my number..

[Emil Schildt]

Zwierzina Plasticca 450mm f/4

2970.50$

190836503188

[Emil Schildt]

COOKE Series II f/4.5 10½"


$422.34

Item number:230979718215