Its been a while since posting anything, I have been 'posting' a lot recently but the ebaying (charliequins) sort, packing and posting old film and various other photography things. I picked up a box of assorted items from an auction and did not realise what I had at first.
I recognised so many of the things, film, chemicals and compounds for developing films and of course the 'Ablon' film cutter. What I did not realise was the demand for such things and how 'sort' after they are but I should of guessed because the majority of them were dated around the 1930' & 40's.
Its been an enjoyable couple of weeks selling these nice old collectibles, apart from the profit I have learnt a lot about them and what they do. Its obvious most of the time like the Samuel Jones tape dispenser above but sometimes it took a bit of detective work. Plus you have to be careful especially with the 'chemicals' and its not advisable to handle them without gloves.
I learnt this when I was setting up the above photo for ebay (charliequins), as you can see the 'Rytol' accelerator has leaked. When some of it came into contact with a very small cut I had on my finger, caused by trying to open a rusted camera back but that's another story, it made me jump. Thankfully it was nothing to bad, like putting vinegar on a sore but it could of been because they used to use, probably still do, some volatile chemicals in the 'darkroom'.
In amongst it all was this nice old lens by Dallmeyer and I was sad to 'let this go', I guess that's the always the case and you are either a 'collector' or a 'dealer'. Plus I have to many things as it is and my intention as always been to buy and sell such wonderful things. Anyway, back to the lens and although its showing signs of age I reckon the 'patina' gives it more character.
Plus, look at the 'work' that has gone into making this, its over 70 years old and the shutter blades worked like new. I also learnt another valuable lesson and that's 'don't take things apart' especially if you do not know what you are doing. There was some dust on the inside of the lens and so I thought I would see if I could clean it by taking it apart. Firstly, I went the wrong way so to speak and opened up the front by removing the very small, almost impossible to see, screw. Big mistake especially when all was required was to twist of the back piece. It was so well engineered that I could not see that you could do this but at least I will know in the future. I did manage to put it back together again but unless you have a good magnifying glass and a very steady hand, I would leave it to the professionals.
Talking of leaving I have to go and do some more 'posting', I will leave you with one last photograph and this was also 'in the box'. I like this photo and he looks like a soldier from the first world war. I guess this glass slide photo has not seen the light of day for many a year, it was in a small box along with some others. What a great photo I thought and what a 'pose' and I wondered what he was thinking.
