Rare American Ads from 1848-1875

[CCHarrison]

see

http://www.antiquecameras.net/18481875advertisements.html

Dan

[Gordon Moat]

Hello Dan,

Definitely lots of interesting things there. I wonder what Rotten Stone was in a list of chemicals offered in one of the ads.

I noticed an 1867 ad from Holmes, Booth & Haydens, indicating that they would continue to manufacture cameras, along with some comments about Charles F. Usener. Almost seems like trying to convince the readers that they were still in business, at least going by the manner in which it was worded. I would like to include a link back to your page, so I can reference that article. That's the latest published item I have seen so far for HB&H.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[BrianShaw]

I love this old stuff! It make me wish I could travel time to experience it for myself. But liking indoor plumbing as much as I do I'd want to be guaranteed a ride back to the 21st Century.

Gordon -- Rotten stone is a very very fine abrasive.

[Gene McCluney]

Hello Dan,

Definitely lots of interesting things there. I wonder what Rotten Stone was in a list of chemicals offered in one of the ads.


Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

Rotten stone is a very fine abrasive used in "buffing" the silver surface of a daguerrotype plate before sensitizing it.

[CCHarrison]

Gordon

I have cracked the HBH story !! From "The Photographer's Friend" Volume 2, 1872:

"On January 1, 1869, the celebrated manufacturers Messrs. Holmes, Booth & Hayden, conducting the leading Photographic Stock House, in the U. S. advised him that they desired to abandon the Stock trade, remarking in their letter that " if all our customers, were as prompt, correct and business like, as you are, we should never think of leaving this most interesting business." Not wishing to remove to New York, the bulk of their stock was purchased, and that House, after closing the business in the Photographic Stock Department, issued the following complimentary circular to the Trade. " Having permanently retired from the Photographic Stock Trade, we would cheerfully reccommend, to our friends and customers in that department, the very reliable House of ' Richard' Walzl, in Baltimore, who is a gentleman of fine business qualifications, and we feel confident will give complete satisfaction to all our former customers, who may extend to him their patronage," signed " Holmes, Booth & Hayden."

So, HBH sold its entire photographic inventory to Richard Walzl's photographic emporium on Jan 1, 1869..

[Gordon Moat]

I've updated the HB&H Serial Number List with your findings. That gives 1854 through 1868 as manufacturing time; a short 14 years in the lens business.

http://hbh.gordonmoat.com - Holmes, Booth & Haydens Serial Numbers List

That's really a fantastic bit of information. Now all I need is more example lenses, to get a better idea of production volume. It appears that barely more than 10000 lenses were made by HB&H in their brief history, and that later production was likely suffering (lower volume than early production). Thanks for sharing your great finds.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[CCHarrison]

see attached

[Gordon Moat]

A quick search for Richard Walzl landed me on this page:

http://www.state.nj.us/state/darm/links/guides/sdea4010images5.html

Scroll down and you can see a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, Commander in Chief. I would imagine it was quite the honor at the time to photograph him.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[seawolf66]

Thank you both for all the history we can find thru both of you folks : Thanks

[Drew Wiley]

Rottenstone is still available, and is used with paraffin oil and pumice to polish funiture varnishes, although nowadays scotchbrite pads are more frequently used.

[Jim Galli]

I have a giant lens marked R. Walzl, Baltimore. No. 10,033 It doesn't have the drive anymore but it appears not to be the earlier radial type. Maybe there was some overlap with such a large lens being mfr.d but not sold so that it was transferred to Walzl even though the HBH numbers extend slightly beyond this? Or maybe it's something else altogether? It's large enough to be perhaps a 20 inch f3.8 but it is missing one rear glass, so un-usable.

[Mark Barendt]

Moderators,

Just tried the link and the link in the OP leads to a site that has been reported by somebody and then checked by Google as distributing malicious software.

Norton and Google caught me before it connected.

[IanG]

Dan is aware of the problem & sorting the issues. Sometimes hosting services get hacked which has happened here, it happened to me two months ago,

Ian

[J. Patric Dahlen]

I too got the warning.

Maybe two years ago I visited the "Medium Format Library" and the malware "ErrorSafe" started to download on my computer. I stopped the process and haven't visited the M.F.L. since.

[Brian Ellis]

see

http://www.antiquecameras.net/18481875advertisements.html

Dan

When I try to access this site I get a message from Firefox that it's an "attack site," meaning it tries to install malware or do some other bad thing to your computer. I have no idea how accurate Firefox is with this sort of thing, a site for old advertisements certainly doesn't sound like a place that would be doing anything like that. But I've been using Firefox for over a year and this is the first time I've gotten such a message so I don't think it's something they take lightly.

[CCHarrison]

Yes, as Ian stated, my site was hacked and Network Solutions is cleaning the site. I am hoping it will be clean today or tomorrow.

Thanks
Dan

[Gordon Moat]

Hello Jim,

You might want to compare to lens No. 10216 on the HB&H Serial listing. If the one you have is stamped, then it could be that Walzl rebranded HB&H lenses stocks. I have yet to find a reasoning behind the few stamped serial numbers on the list, though so far they have only been the last lenses produced. Notice that No. 10006 was engraved, and not stamped.

http://www.boxcameras.com/2brasslenses.html - No. 10216
http://hbh.gordonmoat.com - HB&H Serial number listing

The best way for me to tell would be to see the machining work on the brass. Since there were not standardized sizes for many of these early lenses, the manufacturers had some room for finish work to distinguish their lens from that of a competitor. While many are quite similar, there are a few aspects to look at that might suggest who machined the brass parts. Unfortunately, the drive is one of the more distinct parts, so it would be tougher if that is missing.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)






I have a giant lens marked R. Walzl, Baltimore. No. 10,033 It doesn't have the drive anymore but it appears not to be the earlier radial type. Maybe there was some overlap with such a large lens being mfr.d but not sold so that it was transferred to Walzl even though the HBH numbers extend slightly beyond this? Or maybe it's something else altogether? It's large enough to be perhaps a 20 inch f3.8 but it is missing one rear glass, so un-usable.

[CCHarrison]

PLEASE NOTE THAT MY SITE IS NOW CLEAN AND FREE OF ANY ISSUES as of June 5, 2009..

thanks
Dan

www.antiquecameras.net