From the website that would put it 1902 to 1924. If the shutter & lens look original to the camera, that would date it (Ilex) between ~1910 and maybe 1920, when Compur shutters began taking over. My best guess anyway.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
The board with the lens mounting is definitely different and doesn't match the rest of the camera. My father was an Army photographer (signal corps) during WW II and did a lot of film and photography work after that for Union Pacific Railroad. I remember this camera being around as a kid, but never being used. Both he and his father did a lot of metal and woodworking, including fabricating pieces, so I can see either of them having made the modifications.
I put the original 5x7 backplate on now that I have a better understanding of what the parts are and what I'm looking at.
The lens dates to 1924 and later, but if not original that doesn't help pin down the date to the camera necessarily. However, it does suggest the camera was in professional use from mid 1920s until when your dad acquired it. He might have bought in from a retiring photographer, estate sale in the 1950s or 1960s? I think the odds are this was originally owned by a professional photographer who owned a studio. Impossible to say positively though.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
Bookmarks