History: The Chevalier brand ranks among the elite names of optical makers and photography the early 1830ies up to the late 1850ies. He was awarded severall Medaille d'Or (this is the most prestigious awards) for his work in those decades.

It was a lens made by Chevalier which Niepce used to take the world first photogrpraphic images. It was also Chevaliers lenses that Daguerre used to take the worlds first Daguerrotypes.

The Verres Combines Lens was designed by Chevalier in the year 1840. It was created as an entry for the competition of the French Societe d'Encouragement de l'Industrie Nationale. Chevalier used an achromat element in the rear, but also two different achromats in the front. This would enable the lens to be used at different focal lenghts, one for landscapes and one for portraiture. As expected Chevalier won the first price with it.

The engraving reads:

'Photographe a Verres Combines - Invente par - CHARLES CHEVALIER, - Palais Royal 158 Paris'

That engraving puts the lens in the late 1840es and early 1850ies!

Condition: This brass beauty comes in a collectors condition. Overall the brass shows only minimal wear here and there. It literally 'breathes' the nearly 170 years it has suirvived. The most amazin part here is that the lens comes quite complete, featuring the two small glass elements, which were designed for the landscape and portraiture mode and even the fitting washer stop (which should be used for the portrait shooting).  Sure, the glass is not perfect and features some cleaning marks and specs, but just think about it: Charles Chevalier never did mass production of this lens, since it was insanly expensive in its time. There are probably only a handfull lenses of this kind which did suirvive the decades and almost all of those already ended up in the large lens collections.

If you really want to shoot it (it will probably show some chemical focus), the portrait layout will feature a focal lenght of about 290mm which will work fine for 5x7 and up to 8x10 formats. The landscape layout will feature a focal lenght of around 500mm and probably cover formats up to 14x17.

The lens comes with a flange, the washer stops and the original two elements including the glass for portraiture and landscape use.

height: 10cm
width: 10cm
weight: 1200gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 20 eur
EU* - 60 eur
Worldwide - 150 eur**

*(the site offers only 2 shipping variations, DE and worldwide. buyers from EU please either contact me beforehand for a reduced EU cost, or after buying so i can send a refund over the difference)

** the high cost is due the high insurance value

Importent Note: This item comes from my private collection and is around 100 years old (antique). I try my best to describe all the faults and major damage which are relevant for the function of this item. But the actuall item can show signs of wear and also some cosmetic blemishes/damage which is not described in the auction text! When buying this item the buyer agrees to this terms.