Some Soft Focus Lens Sales Information

[Mark Sawyer]

Has it been established that the "re-listed" lenses are the same ones that were "sold"? The only one I checked on was two different lenses of the same model.

[8x10 user]

Not really that confusing.
The Seller of course... Was just calling 'attention' to his own eBay Sales/Listings.

You guys are overthinking this... Jim galli asked if the pictorial resurgence was over. I thought it would be helpful to include stronger sales from well listed and advertised lenses. The sales are legit, and from the same seller as the very first listing mentioned in this thread. It shows that interest in soft focus and pictorial lenses has not faded. That is all.

Can we declare the pictorial resurgence of the early 21st century officially over? That 2b is arguably one of the finest instruments ever made and would have gotten well over double that number 5 years ago. Listed poorly maybe but anyone really interested finds the stuff.

The only explaination I can give is that it is the surviving Cooke organisation, getting hold of all the Soft Focus models. A resale after a period of time means they have had enough time to measure up radii, distances and refractive indexes etc. I doubt the original prescriptions still exist in their safe.

Or a would-be competitor?

The buyer is a fine art Photographer who shoots film and MFD. The cost of the lenses are not much compared to his phase one kit. Analog lenses will hold their value better then digital backs and most modern high end photographic equipment. He also purchased a universal heliar in 2015.

[Jim Galli]

You can definitely watch "hot" and "cold" trends. Cooke Portrait lenses, especially 'knucklers' are HOT. Verito's which are lovely performers and obviously in a slightly different class because of the longevity and numbers produced, are cold just now. They're getting 2/3 to 2/5ths what they did 5 years ago. Probably because beginning soft focus folks are less numerative and the entry level lenses are easily saturated. But I'm still surprised at the Pinkham SIV 2b. A truly rare and perhaps the best in class benchmark lens that sold very low. Yes, arguably poorly listed, but most of us watched it.

[goamules]

Jim, I agree. I know you are into several hobbies, as am I. When I see prices that start to go up rapidly on an item, doubling in a year, and redoubling, I know it's often a bubble. Bubbles in collectible markets are not based much on supply and demand. They are based on excessive demand, regardless of supply. Cult items take on an "investments" life, where people are buying them just because they see the prices going up rapidly. At some point, the bubble pops, and the items fall back in price. Many lenses like Dagors did that, and now are back to reasonable prices. When I started wetplating, medium sized brass Petzvals and soft focus lenes were very cheap, like $100 bucks or less. That was an extremely good value, so they had to go up quite a bit, and did. After a couple years you had people stating "you better buy this (dallmeyer, Verito, whatever) NOW! They'll just double in price by next year! Hurry!" I told one guy to be careful, that I sensed a bubble, but he didn't believe me and actually got quite angry over my hypothesis. You probably know who I'm talking about, he's no longer a photographer or a lens dealer. Things that should be cheaper, like small Petzvals and common soft focus lenses, are now quite a bit less than they were in 2010 or 11. If you bought then, to resell, you were left holding the bag.

My tactic is to buy a few to use, and sell a few when I'm done with them, never holding too many at once. Though there are some rare "sleepers" that I do hang onto, just in case!

[Mark Sawyer]

I agree too, Jim, but you've got to admit, if any lens deserves to be "hot", it's the Cooke Portrait Lenses...

[8x10 user]

Cookes are not just hot.... They are on FIRE!

201576482421

[8x10 user]

^

T,T & H, Cooke series IIA, 15" F/3.5 201576482421 9500 USD

[8x10 user]

T,T & H, Cooke series IIE, 15" F/4.5 191863204374 7500 USD

[Emil Schildt]

These extremely high prices puzzels me...

And here is one Cooke Series IIa 10.5" F3.5 (!!) for a (for me) resonable Price:

931£ (ca 1350$)

222107572109

[brandon13]

These extremely high prices puzzels me...

And here is one Cooke Series IIa 10.5" F3.5 (!!) for a (for me) resonable Price:

931£ (ca 1350$)
agreed Emil. I have a hard time swallowing these prices. Some kind of ruse between sellers?
222107572109