Post your wacky lens ads, auctions, sales!

[BarryS]

I had to venture into the center of Copenhagen to-day, to have my own 2 lens checked at the optician!

I discovered that there was a new shop selling "our" equipment. The "old" shop, Photographica, gave up stocking old items and lists everything on Ebay without any retail attempts. It is now just a source of chemicals, paper and film.

Anyway, this new shop had a display outside the door consisting of a European copy of the Century bi-poster stand, a 1900 Görltzer studio camera mounted with a Dallmeyer 3B. It has stood there a long time over this summer in direct sunlight and the rain showers of the last few weeks. Surprising, the mahogany has stood up well so far, just a little mat and bleached.

But the real shock is the pricing of the Dallmeyer 3B ( and another 3B in the shop). Both were set at at 25,000 DKK which comes out at about 4,640 USD. Neither was in great condition with scratches and achromat separation/discolouration. I suppose that retail sellers use the more outrageous Ebay listings to fix their asking prices. So the current trend for fantasy BIN or starting prices prices on Ebay for any old brass is having an effect way beyond the Ebay world.

I run into this problem all the time. Local sellers using the highest ebay BIN price they find and acting like experts. The also don't understand how missing parts and poor condition affects value. Politely suggesting they check the prices of the sold listings, works sometimes. I've given up on "sellers" that don't list a price--they usually have a a vague, but insanely high price in mind.

[8x10 user]

Oh are you talking about eBay item number : 201143868257 ?

If so, then maybe it is worth that much "to a collector", well, at least if a prototype Noctilux is worth 196k.

It's interesting that it was made in Germany by Schneider themselves... I wonder if they had trouble with the manufacturing process and if that is why they outsourced the later Dagors to Kern. Functionally it should be about the same as any other late Dagor lens.

There's an auction ad up right now where someone is asking $33,000 for a "very rare" process Artar in barrel. That should incite quite a bidding war, since there are simply tens of thousands of collectors of oddball barrel lenses out there. Somehow I got most of my rare barrel process lenses for free, so guess I'll pass. I prefer
chunks of petrified wood for bookends myself.

[Jac@stafford.net]

I wonder if there would be interest for a service which posted a simple, spreadsheet friendly, "What they wanted and what it sold for" based upon your search.

[goamules]

For every $4,000 Buy it Now hopeful, there is one $2,000 sale. For every quoted $2,000 sale, there used to be 5 that sell for $800. There are tens of thousands of Dallmeyer 3Bs out there, one of the most common "large" lenses you'll find. But you will find them. For some reason, they are always expensive.

That used to be why lens hunting was so fun. There were no posted prices, spreadsheets, or threads hyping everyone up. Then, in 2007 or so, you had to actually know lenses, to sort the gold from the chaff. Now every shop or owner does a quick 15 minute Google search, and puts....$4,000...on theirs.

[Louis Pacilla]

Oh are you talking about eBay item number : 201143868257 ?

If so, then maybe it is worth that much "to a collector", well, at least if a prototype Noctilux is worth 196k.

It's interesting that it was made in Germany by Schneider themselves... I wonder if they had trouble with the manufacturing process and if that is why they outsourced the later Dagors to Kern. Functionally it should be about the same as any other late Dagor lens.

I thought this is your auction # and eBay user name?

[goamules]

Here is a common Darlot gemtype lens, that are often found in sets of 4. They typically sell for from $25 to $300. Or, if you're this guy, let's try for $,1068. Keep in mind, this is a smaller than quarterplate lens (though they are slow, so will cover 4x5, sometimes...

[Dan Fromm]

Dreamer dreaming dreamily, Garrett.

[Steven Tribe]

Here is a common Darlot gemtype lens, that are often found in sets of 4. They typically sell for from $25 to $300. Or, if you're this guy, let's try for $,1068. Keep in mind, this is a smaller than quarterplate lens (though they are slow, so will cover 4x5, sometimes...

This one is still "available".

Meanwhile, an identical one (size 5 - without the Waterhouse gash) has been bought by me from ebay.fr in the lower part of the astute range given by Garratt!

[goamules]

Good for you Steven, I saw that other one, for a normal price. Once I got a bon-ton set of 4, with a spare. They are sharp little lenses, but hard to figure out a way to mount them.