Gold Star? Goerz Dagor f:6.8 Series III No.6 12 In.

[Martin Battilana]

I have a lens and having trouble finding anything on the internet about it. It is a Goerz Dagor f:6.8 Series III No.6 Focus 12 In. No. 226241 set in a Alpahax Synchromatic shutter. I've had a few Goerz lenses in the past and have never seen one with a five point gold star on the face. Not a gold dot. Any info would be great. Thanks, Martin.

[Martin Battilana]

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/nsbca7/gold%20star%20dagor/P1030464.jpghttp://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/nsbca7/gold%20star%20dagor/P1030465.jpg

Added a few pictures.

[Jan Pedersen]

Previous owner had a little fun with the lens adding this poorly edged star.
The lens serial number dates it back decades before Goerz started to ad the Gold Dot and the Gold Ring to the Dagors.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

It looks like someone just engraved it and added gold paint. As far as I know there is no such thing as a gold-star Dagor. Anyhow, this one is pretty old (1910s?), made long before the red, blue, and gold dots. It was also remounted into the Alphax shutter.

[Martin Battilana]

Well the lens certainly has a lot of coverage. It handles anything I can put my 8x10 into. Are these old Dagors sharp?

[goamules]

Well the lens certainly has a lot of coverage. It handles anything I can put my 8x10 into. Are these old Dagors sharp?

You're shooting it, you tell us! By the way, there is a LOT of info on Dagors on this forum and Google in general. Just do a search.

[Martin Battilana]

Haven't shot it yet. Maybe that's a plan for this weekend.

[IanG]

Well good luck, a Dagor can be an excellent lens I'm extremely pleased with mine which is late 1930's.

Ian

[Steve Hamley]

Well the lens certainly has a lot of coverage. It handles anything I can put my 8x10 into. Are these old Dagors sharp?

Some are and some aren't. Dagors were made with different glasses by a lot of companies under different conditions (quality). I have a few of them, and some have a rather smooth look you'd expect of an older uncoated lens, and some are what I'd call "crisp", or at least a little higher in contrast despite being uncoated.

I have a very early 14" f/7.7 lens that is quite crisp and will not vignette the iris at f/16 on 12x20. I think you'll have some loss of edge sharpness past 65-70 degrees unless you're well stopped down, say f/32 and smaller, especially on ULF.

Cheers, Steve

[Lynn Jones]

Hi Martin,

As Jan said this guy had a great gold star joke on us all. Dagors with inch FL's were always made in the USA. Lenses made in the US and British posessions (none but US makers were ever made by any Goerz company in inch equivalents) were shown in inches until the mid or late 1960's and often after that with both inches and metric. Later most everybody used metric. The Dagor (double anastigmat by Goerz) was created in 1893 and has been made for over 100 years (pretty good) and was a great wide field lens, 65 degrees coverage, and astonishingly made with not so great optical glasses at that time. The gold dot and blue dot lenses were designed by Schneider after buying the corporate shell of Goerz in the USA in the 1970's, at least in the early days of Schneider/Goerz, the lenses were manufacturerd by Kern Opix in Switzerland because Schneider was so busy at that time, and Kern was highly respected.

Alphax and Rapax shutters were made by Wollensak in the US. The Alphax didn't have a very good reputation because it was a self cocking shutter (and all the self cocking shutters in the world didn't last very long). The Rapax "set and release" on the other hand was well made and lasted well (I still have a couple of them, lo these many years later).

Lynn

[David Lindquist]

The gold dot and blue dot lenses were designed by Schneider after buying the corporate shell of Goerz in the USA in the 1970's, at least in the early days of Schneider/Goerz, the lenses were manufacturerd by Kern Opix in Switzerland because Schneider was so busy at that time, and Kern was highly respected.
Lynn

I don't think this is correct. I have a Goerz Optical Company, Inc. ("a subsidiary of Kollmorgen") price list dated August 1, 1970 that lists the Blue Dot Trigor (available in six focal lengths, from 6 to 14 inches) as well as the Gold Dot Dagor. Also I purchased a Gold Dot Dagor new in 1969.

David Lindquist

[Leigh]

Dagors with inch FL's were always made in the USA.
Sorry, Lynn, not true.

I have an 8 1/4" f/6.8 Gold Dot Dagor manufactured in Switzerland, in a Copal No. 1.

http:///www.mayadate.org/pix/Goerz_Front_DSC_0305.jpg

http:///www.mayadate.org/pix/Goerz_Rear_DSC_0306.jpg

- Leigh

[E. von Hoegh]

There's another on feebay right now.
One of the Bunk&junk remounts, by the markings.

Edit - It's a 210 / 7.7, marked "series III Berlin"

[Jan Pedersen]

Some of the early 8 1/4" Gold Dot's have serial numbers in the 77xxxx range dating them much earlier than the Schneider era.
My 14" Schneider Gold Dot made in Switzerland is only maked 14".
In fact i don't recal ever seing a Goerz or Schneider Dagor with FL in metric units.

[Tony Lakin]

Maybe it's a 'special' made for the Israeli market, or it may not be kosher:D

[David Lindquist]

And now here's a 210mm f/7.7 C.P. Goerz Berlin "Gold Star" Dagor:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Goerz-Dagor-Lens-Berlin-210mm-f-7-7-Gold-Star-Compur-/120659860485?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item1c17e35c05
David

[cdholden]

Maybe it's a 'special' made for the Israeli market, or it may not be kosher:D

Wouldn't that be a 6 point star (Star of David)?

[Tony Lakin]

Wouldn't that be a 6 point star (Star of David)?

Of course :o Doh!