Special Portrait Euryscope

[Chuck Pere]

A friend has this lens on an old studio camera he bought a while back:

Brass Lens: Special Portrait Euryscope

Focus 16 1/4 in.

Ralph J. Golsen

Chicago

No. 62462

The Voighlaender & Son Optical Co. New York

A quick search has lots of Euryscope info but I couldn't find the "Special" model. Anyone have any information? What about value? Thanks.

[cdholden]

That glare is a bit obtrusive. The serial will at least give you a date to start with. The only ones I've seen with f4.5 (as your photo shows) is the third series. The third series also falls under "Portrait Euryscop", so that makes sense. I've never seen reference to a "Special" either, so I'm curious to hear input from others as well.
Maybe something the distributor called it? It is engraved with the Golsen name.

[Steven Tribe]

The focal length is a problem as it doesn't quite match the likely candidates from Voigtländer.
Could we have:
Diameter of front lens glass?
Confirmation of equal size front and rear glass?

[Steven Tribe]

Found it.
American Voigtländer catalogue 1915/16. Lots of America names could have been an advantage at this time!

Series III (i.e Portrait Euryscope)

Size no. 6, 16.25 focal length diameter 3.75". Designed to cover 8x10"

[Chuck Pere]

Thanks Steven. I'll have him check the diameters to confirm. Does the catalog mention "Special"?

[cdholden]

Found it.
American Voigtländer catalogue 1915/16. Lots of America names could have been an advantage at this time!

Series III (i.e Portrait Euryscope)

Size no. 6, 16.25 focal length diameter 3.75". Designed to cover 8x10"

"Found it" doesn't count unless you found the "Special" reference!

[Steven Tribe]

All Portrait Euryscopes are special!
If you insist, you will have do a search for Golsen's own catalogue from this period!
Golson's main Portrait offering was the B&L series which has been sold here (see photo). So the Special was just to differentiate it from the US product?

[Chuck Pere]

Diameter is 3 3/4in. Special was probably a Golson thing added by them. I didn't see any catalogs popping up in a search but I did see the word "Special" on some other Golson lenses.

[Steven Tribe]

Putting a date on this super lens is impossible. A group of serial numbers were allocated by Braunscheig to the American organisation in the late 1890's (something like 58,000 to 61,000) and these were engraved on "American" lenses for quite a long period afterwards. Your 62xxx is almost certainly a genuine Voigtländer serial number rather than a Golson addition. But it is higher than the "american series". 62xxx may have sold long before 60999!

[Jim Galli]

"Found it" doesn't count unless you found the "Special" reference!

I have the identical lens without the special Golsen inscription. Big US Photo retail houses were into this in the first score of years in the 20th century. Mine is Serie III 59000 serials 16 1/4" f4.5

Gorgeous performer. The 1905 and 1910 cat. pages show 2 different designs and styles. By 1910 the lens was a waterhouse lens and the focus and design of the glass had changed if the photos of the pages are accurate. The lovely aperture and lens shade is gone. The 1905 cat. shows it identical the the one sold by Golsen.


http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/42Heliar42EuryPortr/V_Cat_NY_1905_Serie3.jpg
1905

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/42Heliar42EuryPortr/V_Cat_NY_1910_Serie3.jpg
1910


Golsen was just a big retailer that sold many lenses made by other folks with their name on it. I mostly see Bausch and Lomb products with their name though.


http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/42Heliar42EuryPortr/42EuryPortr_CocaWindow-f4_5s.jpg
made with #6 Euryscop Portrait. Also interesting that the Americans added the 'e' to Euryscop.

[cdholden]

In addition to their results, I am impressed to see these catalogs from the early 1900s and their statement about their 30 years of production prior to that. That speaks volumes about the success of both their design and quality of manufacture.