History: A very interesting Portrait petzval for the 8x10 format. As with many early french lenses it doesnt feature an engraving on the barrel. The first guess would be a french maker (who didnt engrave every lens), but there are also some cluess that this might be rather made by a german maker: the glass lacks any markings (many french makers marked the side of the glass elements with lead pencils), also the barrel design looks more german then french to me. Also the borad rack&pinion mechanism, reminds me more of Voigtländer then any french maker. My guess would be that this is an early german maker, but the engraved part was cut out for the waterhouse stop (which looks indeed retrofitted and not original to me). So it might be an early Voigtländer, or Emil Busch petzval here.

Condition: the lens is in very nice and authentic condition. The brass of the lens comes with an authentic and warm patina, showing only minor wear. The rack & pinion is comple and working. The lens was made before the waterhouse era, but it was retrofitted with a waterhouse slot (maybe thats when the engraving was lost). The glass is mostly in a good condition, it shows only very light cleaning marks and some air bubbles (another hint, that it might be indeed a Voigtländer lens!), overall it is very clear and doesnt show any signs of seperation, haze or fungus. A brief test on the ground glass showed a very sharp center, with a nice falloff including some character in the out of focus region.

This lens has about 300mm focal lenght (12") and an open aperture of F3.8. It will cover 5x7 and 8x10 format with a nice petzval character especially at portrait distance.

Lens comes with a fitting flange and a the original brass lenscap.

height: 20cm
width: 9.5cm
weight: 1950gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 10 eur
EU* - 25 eur
Worldwide - 70 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)

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.