Just in case you havn't seen this listing!

[Steven Tribe]

I have no connection with this seller and he doesn't need any help either!
There are early objectives, very early objectives and unbelievably early objectives. This is one of the later kind. 250631793844. He can afford to list it - just stating the bare facts.

Looks just like the petzvals made 20 years later.

Can one put a value on this? I know I wouldn't sell it if I owned it.

[jb7]

Thanks-

I was watching it already, now I guess everyone else is too-

I'm not a collector, but it looks like a usable lens-
not by me now, unfortunately...

[Emil Schildt]

he sold me a similar(?) lens some time ago - much smaller and with a higher serial number.

Great lens!

[Steven Tribe]

I don't think Andrew Ross developed his Petzval much during the 40´s and 50´s - so yours is probably identical - apart from the Waterhouse cut-out. He was busy with his development work (in competition/cooperation with Collen and Grubb) in the quest towards the aplanatic.

[russyoung]

Chris is a good guy and very knowledgeable about early English & French lenses. I've gotten some very rare lens and attachments from him in the last decade.

Russ

[Emil Schildt]

Chris is a good guy and very knowledgeable about early English & French lenses. I've gotten some very rare lens and attachments from him in the last decade.

Russ

agree!

very dependable.

[Steven Tribe]

There are a few perfect UK sellers who almost under-state what they know they have for sale. As regards the early Ross objectives - its a pity that we don't have the detailed ledger books available. For Dallmeyer, you can get the date it left the factory and the purchaser as well as the type of objective. An anonymous tiny Dallmeyer recently turned out to be one of the Stereo Petzvals - and the serial number of the missing second objective was available as well as the usual data.

[goamules]

I have no connection with this seller and he doesn't need any help either!
....

And yet, here we go again. I think from now on, anything any of us finds and is interested in should be posted on this forum. That way, there is the most exposure, and the seller may reach the maximum selling price. We should be especially careful to post about any lens that is wrongly labeled, has poor keywords, or is otherwise likely to be "missed" by "everyone."

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=53682

[cowanw]

I find Steven's postings educational and hope he continues.
His posting of the 18 inch Graf Variable listing didn"t hurt my bid. I was waiting to get some pictures to acknowledge his last post in that thread, but there you go: he posted and I won it for $678.
Regards
Bill

[Steven Tribe]

Exposure is not always associated with bloated prices. In this case, you could argue that this is just an ordinary Petzval made at the same time that Voigtländer was turning out hundreds of them. As Emil says about his similar "much smaller and with a higher serial number", that it is identical with this one from 184?. Looking at Ross's work with Petzvals through the century in VM, he doesn't seem to have been the great developer like Dallmeyer was. So you could make a point that a later Ross Petzval is just as collectable (for use) as this survivor from the 40's.

I have experienced that non-highlighted/ill-described items often reach perhaps unrealistic levels (in terms of judging condition because of out-of-focus illustration(s)).
The psychology at work seems to be:
"I found this in the quagmire of e**y listings, kept mum about and now I am bl**dy well going to have it - even though it appears someone else has found it too."

[jb7]

I've also bought from this seller, and found him a pleasure to deal with, and very fair.
Now, since I'm contributing to this advert, I doubt very much whether my pockets will be deep enough, come the final seconds. So be it.

Finding affordable lenses can be difficult, and adverts for ebay listings is prohibited on the 'for sale' section here, so maybe this is a good way to get around it.



Exposure is not always associated with bloated prices. In this case, you could argue that this is just an ordinary Petzval made at the same time that Voigtländer was turning out hundreds of them.

Of course, all Petsvals are ordinary- in a Petzval kinda way-
as I mentioned, I'm not a collector, numbers mean little to me, and dates would be as interesting after the auction ends.

I don't know much about the output of the respective factories, but since Voigtlander was producing lenses in the low hundreds per year at this point, with the Sohn probably personally overseeing, I doubt whether they would be as common as you would imply- and of course, I don't know how many Ross produced then either-

Shall we open a book on the completed listing price?

I'll start at £432.37 ...

[Ash]

£561.29

[Steven Tribe]

"Finding affordable lenses can be difficult".

I would say impossible - certainly on that site. Everyone is always viewing/watching and late bidding on the very lenses which appeal to me. It is still excellent for workhorse lenses made by the 1000's- both modern and ancient. I have bought a number of "coverted" objectives the last year - none of them of e**y - where, in every case, they would have cost a great deal more.

I didn't really think about value. It depends on how many were made alongside with all the other Ross objectives. Perhaps Voigtländers have already been added to collections and that the "original article" is ultimately more interesting than Andrew Ross's "copy" ?

[Steven Tribe]

In spite of the danger of provoking wrath from others who have definite opinions about mentioning listings in progress, I would like to follow-up on this thread as the listing finished some time ago.
And compare with another listing which ( as far as I am able to find out ) was not mentioned here. The "mentioned" listing was the Ross from 184? and the "unmentioned listing" was a Horne & Thornthwaite Both were listed by sellers of considerable renown. Both are comparative rare objectives. Ross has the advantage of a household name while H & T has the advantage of a very small production generally. Ross was 10.5" and H & T was 12" Petzval. H &T, I think, was in better "collector" condition. Of course, these are not equivalent - but do have a lot in common. Some of the late bidders were common to both auctions.

Mentioned here during the Auction: Ross. 20 bids - winning bid £474 - a total of approx. 15 different bidders.

Not mentioned here: Horne & Thornthwaite. 48 bids - winning bid £565 - a total of approx. 8 bidders. This was an atypical auction with series of 2 competing bidders at one stage.

I feel that this seems to support some of the arguments I have given before - that mention of a specific item, especialy when it is listed professionally, doesn't act as a final price booster.