Ansel Adams camera on auction

[cowanw]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/ansel-adams-large-format-camera-going-to-auction/2016/10/04/571ab696-8a56-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506_story.html

[cowanw]

Having gone through the catalogue of the Auction house, there are a remarkable number of Iconic images.

[Mark Sawyer]

BTW, the three lenses it comes with are: "a Wollensak Raptar 13in. f/6.8 lens No. 971865 in Alphax shutter, a Ross Express 5in. f/4 lens No. 153041 in Ilex No.4 Acme Synchro shutter, a Kodak Ektar 203mm f/7.7 lens No. RE262 in Flash Supermatic Shutter, compendium lens hood."

[Drew Wiley]

Two hundred bucks would be a fair price. His world famous light meter of the same vintage sold for thirty bucks to an impoverished user, not a collector. A cigar butt once smoked by George Burns is probably worth far more. However, people sometimes do really stupid things at auctions. It's hard to predict. I remember when a Moonrise sold for 60K at auction when any number of them of equal size and quality were being offered by galleries from 8K to 16K at very same time. Now that image has skyrocketed even further, after distinctly dropping in value for awhile when examples flooded the market, fishing for some of the action. It's all about supply and demand. And camera collectors seem a lot more interested in the rarity and condition of the camera itself than in who previously owned it.

[John Kasaian]

BTW, the three lenses it comes with are: "a Wollensak Raptar 13in. f/6.8 lens No. 971865 in Alphax shutter, a Ross Express 5in. f/4 lens No. 153041 in Ilex No.4 Acme Synchro shutter, a Kodak Ektar 203mm f/7.7 lens No. RE262 in Flash Supermatic Shutter, compendium lens hood."
Ansel probably already took all the really good images out of those lenses so all that's left is going to be the glass and shutters. I hope the bidders are aware of this!:rolleyes:

[John Kasaian]

Two hundred bucks would be a fair price. His world famous light meter of the same vintage sold for thirty bucks to an impoverished user, not a collector. A cigar butt once smoked by George Burns is probably worth far more. However, people sometimes do really stupid things at auctions. It's hard to predict. I remember when a Moonrise sold for 60K at auction when any number of them of equal size and quality were being offered by galleries from 8K to 16K at very same time. Now that image has skyrocketed even further, after distinctly dropping in value for awhile when examples flooded the market, fishing for some of the action. It's all about supply and demand. And camera collectors seem a lot more interested in the rarity and condition of the camera itself than in who previously owned it.

I don't know about that, Drew. I think George smoked 'em down to not even enough tobacco left to roll a cigarette with.
Now Bing Crosby's iconic long stem pipes----there's got to be a bunch of those floating around. He complained about fans stealing them so he imported boxes full of them---Merchant Service from the UK, IIRC, expecting them to be "lifted," and indeed they were.

[Mark Sampson]

Well, the Ross 5" lens is likely the one he used to make his famous "Black Sun" photograph. Got to love the "working man's toolbox" esthetic of the whole kit, too. Or "working woman's", as Ms. DeCock used the outfit for some years herself. Still, with the opening bid at $35,000, it's a wealthy collector bidding. No museum has that much money to spend.

[Mrportr8]

I would doubt he took any of his famous photos with that camera. Most of his popular works were taken from 1920's - 1960ish. Being a monrail design it's better suited to the studio or architecture. I'd want his Korona or Deardorf.

[Drew Bedo]

BTW, the three lenses it comes with are: "a Wollensak Raptar 13in. f/6.8 lens No. 971865 in Alphax shutter, ."

There is a lens described exactly like that on The-Bay right now, but its bundled with a restored Kodak 2-D.. . .and the BIN price is over 2K!

[Drew Wiley]

Or there might be one sold tomorrow at the flea market for five bucks. Auctions, whether in person or on the web, are a funny creature indeed. I get a kick out of
those "rare", "collectable" lens posting with obscene price listing, which understandably just sit there month after month. People collect bottle caps, strands of barbed wire, probably rare rat droppings, all kinds of things. But most view cameras either go to actual shooters or someone who just wants some quaint mahogany and brass antique that looks cute on the fireplace mantle. This particular camera fits neither realistically. Maybe one of AA's stinky old Stetsons would
be more iconic.