From time to time you will see a lens appearing here, which is rarely offered or sold at all. You can look up ebay history and i doubt that you will find many Petzval lenses of similar size and focal lenght beeing sold recently.

History: A very very rare Portrait Petzval lens made by one of the early photographic opticians: Richard E. Walzl.

Born in Vienna, Austria in 1843, Walzl was a photographer by trade who was established in Baltimore. He was not only a successful photographer but he also operated a highly successful photographic supply buisness as early as 1862. Walzl also published a quarterly journal called 'The Photographers Friend' starting in January 1871, and then in 1878, produced a quarterly journal called 'Photographics Rays if Light'.

The barrell is engraved with:

'No. 1.609 - R. WALZL - Balto Md'

Condition: This masterpiece comes in a nice authentic condition. The brass shows some wear here and there but also a fine patina. The gigantic glass elements are surprisingly in great condition for a lens of this size,  there are minor cleaning marks here and there and some specs. Besides that, there is no seperation, no edge chips, or anything that would harm the image quality here. The massive rack & pinion is still complete and moving smoothly.

With its fast open aperture of F4.5 and a focal lengh of 600mm (or 24"), this lens will work from 14x17 and even 17x20 format!


Lens comes with a massive flange.

height: 36cm
width: 16cm
weight: 7000gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 30 eur
EU* - 80 eur
Worldwide - 250 eur

Shipping withint EU is less expensive then the international shipping quoted here. If youre withing EU, please contact me about the actuall shipping cost.

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.