History: Very early portrait petzval lens made by Jules Vogel in Philadelphia. Vogel was one of the first lensmakers who established his workshop in the early days of photography in the US. This lens is a really rare version which features an really fast open aperture and was destined for small childrens portraits.

The engraving features the impressive eagle and the banner reading: 'Jules Vogel Philadelphia- E Pluribus Unum - 31.518'

Condition: Really nice authentic condition: brass shows quite some wear, still the protective laquere is mostly intact and shows a warm patina. The rack & pinion is complete and working. The glass shows some minor issues, with quite some cleaning marks and some scratch mark, but when teste on the groundglass the image was crispy clear.

The lens offers a focal lenght of around 180mm (or 7") and a stunning aperture of F2.5 which is even faster then the famous Dallmeyer 2B, or the very fast Voigtländer lenses. The lens shows quite some amount of petzval character and will work very well for 4x5 and 5x7 portraiture work.

A really fine specimen of a very early production run, probably around late 1860ies.

Lens comes with a fitting flange and a waterhouse stop.

height: 15cm
width: 9.5cm
weight:  2000gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 20 eur
EU* - 40 eur
Worldwide - 80 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.