Printable View
Can anyone help me with info about an Exelsior casket?
It's marked Exelsior I, not Excelsior and consists of 7 elements (15,25,35,45,55,65,75) and an iris diaphragm in the barrel.
Shortest focal distance of a combination is about 12cm, longest about 33cm. Screw mount is about 42mm.
The shape of a lens element is like those in a Rapid Rectilinear.
Can't find anything about this set so any info appreciated!
Peter
Attachment 199061Attachment 199062
The design reminds me of Rodenstock, but I could be wrong
The most common no name aplanat/perscope multi focal length casket set was the “Meteor” which has been identified as being a Rodenstock product from a period when Rodenstock was just getting established. I don’t think they would have made another series of casket aplanats at the same time with another trade name.
I did a search of old catalogues (french and german) from around 1900 on the 6th, but found nothing substantial. “Exelsior” was used for a few lenses. There was an Exelsior, 1, 2. 2bis and 3 in a catalogue summary - these are typical sizes of aplanat casket sets.
We must remember that this anonymising of lenses is not the same as labelling them as shoddy products. There was a lot of scepticism/distrust/ and worse between certain European Countries. A german lens would not have sold well in France after 1870.
Both “Meteor” and “Exelsior” are comparatively neutral words as regards language of origin (english/french/german/italian etc).
Rochester Optical Co. marketed brass lenses labeled "Excelsior, #numeral, R.O. Co." in the late 1880s up to around 1900. They were described as "Rochester Optical Excelsior Rectilinear Extra Rapid" lenses made to use on dry plate cameras. Definitely worth checking out with some test exposures on film. Have come across 2 similar brass lenses that were worth the $ of having them mounted in shutters.
Thanks everyone for the info! BTW during research I found there are several public domain works on archive.org, including old catalogs and early books. Exelsior popped up too but like Steven says it seems to be a sort of general name for all kinds of things.