Info on a series G extreme wide angle lens

[S. Christiansen]

I recently received a brass, wide angle lens with the following info on it: THE IDEAL Series G Extreme Wide Angle 8x10 Burke & James Chicago. F stops are f16 to f256. I've researched it on Google and here on the Large Format website but have found nothing regarding its history, focal length or dates of manufacture. It is a brass barrel lens and the glass is in excellent condition. It is mounted on a wooden board that says 7x11 Eastman View. Can anyone provide some info or a website that addresses this lens?

Thank you

[Louis Pacilla]

Your lens was manufactured by B&L for Burk & James. It's a WAR or wide angle Rapid Rectilinear.

Should produce sharp images but will be a bit soft at the extreme edges of the IC. It will cover around 100 degrees when stopped all the way down or close to it. There are tons of these types of lenses out 0there in this size so they don't fetch a lot of cash as a result.The larger ones that cover 20x24 or above will bring a bit of cash though.

Give it a try and remember to stop it down if your covering an 8x10 format.

Here's your lens from the 1904 catalog and the 1898 Bausch & Lomb catalog

[Chauncey Walden]

Those are probably US (Uniform System) stops rather than f/stops so US 16 is f/16, US 32 is f/22, US 64 is f/32 and so on.