Finally, I found my studio camera Century 8A

Well, I wanted to start a separate post to tell all those who may be interested in a great find. I've been looking for a Century 8A double bellows 11x14 camera with the Century stand for a long, long time now. I've looked in my backyard and could not find one so I decided to look in others backyards. I came across this beautiful camera in Connecticut in a small town near the border with New York. The collector has owned it for some 20 years and it was the portrait camera used at Purdue University at the turn of the century. It came with the Century stand, 11x14, 8x10, whole plate, 5x7 and 2 4x5 backs. It has two sliding carriages a large working Packard shutter and a B&L 14x17 Tessar in very good shape in a huge Compound Shutter. I'm going to do some minor cleaning and restoration on the camera and some bellows repair but it is in amazing shape. I picked it up for less than a box of 11x14 FP4+! Shipping from the East coast was easy as could be and did not cost that much at all. I had a friend in Massachusetts pick it up and pack it for me. I can now set up the portrait studio that I've always wanted. My Darlot looks very nice on the front!
If anyone went to Purdue this is the camera that took your picture many years ago. Nice to own a piece of history and put it back to use.
This was a great find and I thought I lost it at first as someone from the area told the owner that they would buy it but when they showed up they said that they wanted to "look" at it. Great for me! Once I heard the camera was available again all it took was a phone call and the deal was done. I'm keeping this at my friend Matt Blais' home until I get my new living arrangements worked out.

That's a great find, Jim. Congrats!

- Leigh

Congratulations Jim! Terrific camera.

I fell lucky to have a very nice & complete 8a. Not that many left.

Glad you finally found yours. What a beauty!

Peace

BTW Great lens. It's a IIb.,right?

Thanks, guys. At first I thought I wasn't going to be able to pull it off as the owner did not want to deal with shipping. When the purported buyer turned out to be a "looker" the owner was very upset. I was ready to hop on a plane to secure the deal. Nice to know that there are people out there still who deal the old fashion way... a hand shake over the phone!

Jim, that's awesome, congratulations on your new camera.

Roger

Looks great, Jim! What a peach! You're going to have a lot of fun with that beauty. Enjoy!

Hi Jim,
The camera looks pretty good to me. The bellow seems to have many miles left. I'm glad it landed here safely. Enjoy.

Jim,
Congrats on the great find! Lots of options to boot...

Best of luck with it.
Chris

wow - now I am jealoux!

have a LOT of fun with it!

great camera jim !
i wish mine had its 11x14 back
( i have a 7x11 back i use with it instead )

have fun !
john