Wollensack Velostigmat 12" - your judgement please

Hello.
Just got Vellostigmat off ebay.
Please read description:

" (...) Glass is decent but will have a few cleaning sleaks. It's 100 years old, and these were so useful, they got used. A lot. The flange is present. (...)"

"few cleaning sleaks" - what they use? Sandpaper?
The barrel of the front element is bend - it is impossible to remove the name plate - so no good cleaning , no repolishing possible.
Below are pictures of a front element. The rear element is slightly better , not much. Do you think the seller overrated the actual condition? Am I oversensitive?
How would you describe this particular lens?
Attachment 218439Attachment 218442Attachment 218440Attachment 218441

Return it and get your money back. Not as described.

I agree with Brian.
Send it back for refund. Not as described.
Those are serious scratches, not "cleaning sleaks".

Someone’s tried to turn this into a soft focus lens?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lachlan 717

Someone’s tried to turn this into a soft focus lens?

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In fact it IS a SF lens - not "true" SF (like Eidoscope, Perscheid, P&S, Verito etc), but more like Universal Heliar, some Cookes and some petzvals for example. Can be set to sharp or SF setting.


This lens was sold by a well known, I`d say: famous person in SF world. Many on this forum admire his works. I did not know from who I`m buying, realised later. I was glad because I have read lots of good opinions about his transactions here. Buyers routinelly said that he underestimeted condition of his lenses. Maybe he did not want to sell this one here? Ebay nick is (semi) anonimous.

Are those scratches on the surfaces of elements, or some sort of delamination cracks between lens elements?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pjd

Are those scratches on the surfaces of elements, or some sort of delamination cracks between lens elements?

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Scratches. Can not say how much they degrade the image as i dont have nice lens to compare...
This is not the point. Some ugly lenses gives nice images, the point is "distance" between description and real condition

The lens cell you shared photos of does look badly damaged. Contact the seller and see how that goes. Sorry to see this, good luck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pjd

The lens cell you shared photos of does look badly damaged. Contact the seller and see how that goes. Sorry to see this, good luck.

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Thanks. This treat is to get more objective, not personal opinion before contact with the seller...
This is sad as I was looking for 12 or 14in version for a year.

The other common problem... Seller describes his version of a lens as better than the other but he never had both to compare. I'm talking about Perscheid he was selling some time ago...

To most of us that lens would definitely be "not as described"... but have you used the lens yet? Sometimes, shining a light through the back of the lens accentuates "defects" to the point where they look horrendous yet the lens actually performs acceptably. What you show is a very old lens that has, quite obviously, been used a lot and suffered a bit during its lifetime. It is possible, though, that the real impact of the scratching is negligible under most circumstances in which that kind of lens would be used. Sun glare could be a real problem but that is somewhat controllable with a lens shade.

If the price was really good...

Otherwise, it seems that there are others available that might be better options.