Wollensak Anastigmat

[John Cahill]

Anyone know anything about the Wollensak Anastigmat, Series V, 13 inch f. 7.5 lens? I ASS u ME it is uncoated? But how many elements? Any info greatly appreciated. BTW, it is really clean, no scratches, fungus, etc. and in a Betax Nr. 4 shutter and everything seems to work ok. How about a ball park figure about what it's worth?
TIA

[Jim Galli]

Looking through the catalogs on Seth Broder's site (http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info.html) it appears in the 1919 and 1923, and it's gone by 1928. Curious about the lens design though. The series IV was a dialyte construction of 4 lens 4 groups. I wonder if the f7.5 is a triplet? Had to be cheaper than the 6.3 dialyte somehow and good triplets weren't because of extra construction considerations. It's definitely uncoated. Worth the value of the shutter, and if it makes good photographs, worth using.

[BrianShaw]

(snip) and if it makes good photographs, worth using.

That was my initial assessment of worth too. I've just started using an old 5 inch Kodak No 31 Anastigmat (not quite sure of design but maybe Tessar) on an old Anniversary Graphic. Even with color film I am inpressed. All of the sudden the thoughts of monetary value have (for a while) been put aside and the "using" value has come to the forefront.

[Jim Jones]

The No. 31 5.5" f/4.5 Kodak Anastigmat is indeed a Tessar. Kodak recommended it for 3.25 x 4.25. Fortunately, photographers have rarely been limited by the recommendations of manufacturers.

[BrianShaw]

I've seen that Kodak recommendation, too. (maybe it was you who pointed that out to me recently??) The No 31 5 inch in Dial Compur shutter was original equipment on the early Anniversary Graphic 4x5's. That's what i'm using. I'm glad Graphlex didn't pay a whole lot of attention to Kodak's recommendation either!