Anthony’s Patent Plate Holder - why was it not continued?

[Steven Tribe]

In a rather round-about way, I have come to own a couple of these very different plate holders from the 1880’s. It seems to me like a really genius idea/patent. Why did they not become an industry standard?

I recently got hold of a UK 8x10 Meagher camera from the 1880’s - this is the design with the wrap around side-wing for stabilizing the front standard. Like a good percentage of the really attractive wood, brass and Russian leather cameras, it had been used as an ambiance item in a “stylish” home at a better address in Denmark. Plate holders are additional dust collectors, so these had be lost years ago. Fortunately, there was a Zeiss Protar left, which contributed handsomely to the purchase - it was listed as an “antique” rather than being in the “photography” category.

8x10 - or 10x8! - was never a popular/common size in the UK, where full plate was the largest size which sold in large quantities. So I realized that modification of some wooden generic, preferably same era, would be difficult, if not impossible. The most common 8x10 plate holders have the light trap ridge as opposed to velvet compression seals and the other ordinary version, book style, require a lot of moving of brass figments when dimensions are not quite correct.

Just two weeks after getting the Meagher camera I bought two double 8x10 wood holders from Athens. These were not book type, had no light trap and physically could be adapted to fit the rear standard. They also appeared to have a unique plate loading system through the base as the bottom section was removable. Described as “no name”.

A few minutes after arriving they lost their anonymity as there was a stamped “pat. Feb. 27.83” mark and the slides and center piece were of golden treated wood fibers. American from the last decades of the 19th century. I have owned similar items from PRIMO and POCO. Pearce Vaubel showed these relate to a Anthony plate holder patent and the product is shown on this extensive website.