What a world traveler that lens will be! Made in Paris, imported to America and probably used in a wetplate studio, and now off to the great white north to you!
Ummm... and where's my Euryscope?.... :'(
Hehe - it's ok - I have #5 and #7, so I'm fairly well set.
That 14" G&C does look impressive! That's what I need to find now - any 14"+ Petzvals. I somehow ended up with 4 full plate ones that are all about 8-10in... I'd probably be willing to trade two of them for a 14in...
It's true, the bigger ones are more rare. In the 1870s, I'd say for every 50 quarterplate lenses, there were 10 wholeplate ones sold. Probably only 2-3 "double wholeplate" or approximately an 8x10 lens. Then anything longer than 14 inch would be extremely rare. Anything longer than 20 inch would only have a couple sold each year.
For several years I sourced Petzvals for people. Often, photographers just learning about wetplate would contact me, and say "I need a Petzval to cover 11x14, but I want a fast one! Needs to be faster than F3.8. But I want a good price, I don't want to spend much..."
yeah... that's about how it seems indeed. I mean, I'm not a big speed fanatic, f4-5 is plenty for me, but I like a slight swirl (and sometimes like it stronger than slight) and with Petzvals it seems to go away more the slower they are. But yeah, I ain't some retired lawyer or doctor or god knows who with disposable thousands... So, I'll have to wait for a miracle (like winning a lottery, which would truly be a miracle since I don't buy tickets....)
I had a 13" f 4.3 ish G&C petzval that was complete. It was a Bryant as well. It was really cheap as the seller had listed it as 10 inch. It was really beautiful lens with a dark patina. Perfect glass too. no separation. It wasn't getting enough use as I wasn't shooting that much 5x7 back then so I sold it. Wish I had kept it. It was really sharp. You will be happy with it Anton.
Quick update - so far loving the lens. Only shot it with the one Waterhouse stop I found in my stash that fir perfectly (about f5.6) and the results are excellent. Need more portrait shoots to try it on...
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