Small puzzle, possibly a small Goerz

[Dan Fromm]

Just received lens that -- surprise! -- wasn't quite what I hoped it would be.

The front cell is engraved "Doppel-Anastigmat 1:6,8 f - 13 cm". No maker's name anywhere on it.

It is in a dial-set Compur with C.P.Goerz engraved on the speed dial.

No serial numbers anywhere, just what I think is a German patent (D.R.P.) number on the shutter's face plate.

I've counted reflections, saw four strong, no weak from each cell. So it is a dialyte type. Uncoated, of course. It passes light and forms an image. The focal length is very nearly, if not exactly, 13 cm, so I think it isn't a pair of loose cells someone screwed into a shutter that happened to be lying around. #0 shutter, as near as makes no difference.

Any suggestions about how to tell which Goerz lens it is, and even whether it is a Goerz? I mean, Goerz applied several names to their dialytes in the '20s.

Thanks,

Dan

[Dan Fromm]

Thanks, gentlemen.

[Leonard Robertson]

I have a barrel mount 10 3/4" Goerz Double-Anastigmat Type B, Series 1c (No. 5), serial #140xxx, calibrated in US stops. I don't have the lens in hand at the moment, so I don't know the maximum stop in US stops. Somewhere I got the idea the Series 1c Double-Anastigmat was a Celor formula. I thought it was listed as such in the "Handbook of Photography" by Henney and Dudley, but I don't see it there now. I also have a barrel mount 8 1/4" Goerz Celor f5 , Series 1b (No.3), serial #229xxx, also US stops. Is it possible Goerz labeled the early Celor formula lenses "Double-Anastigmat" and started using the Celor name later, probably to avoid confusion with the Series III Double-Anastigmat which became the Dagor? Henney & Dudley do show the Syntor as a f6.8 Celor formula, available in focal lengths 12-21 cm. I've always assumed the lens info in H & D isn't 100% accurate, although it is an interesting reference. What was the difference (if any) between a Celor and a Syntor?

[Jim Galli]

Hi Dan. Kind of tough with no other markings. Dogmar's were dialyt but every one I've seen was well marked. Not sure what the Celor's were. I have a very early Rodenstock Dopple Anastigmat Eurynar that is 4 glass 4 group but again well marked. If it's a doppel anastigmat each element should be useable independently like a convertible. Maybe Goerz supplied some cheaper models to camera makers to mark with their own "house brand" and that one just never got remarked. Yes I'm a sucker for anything that says "Doppel Anastigmat f6.8" always figuring I'm getting an un-named Dagor and have gotten the dialyt's also. One like that was an Agfa Helostar that I just re-sold at a loss after I went through the shutter and made a useable lens out of it. We buy high and sell low, but we make it up in volume. Jim

[CP Goerz]

Its most likely a Syntor.

CP Goerz.