History: The Cone Centralisateur lens design (which is a petzval design with a larger back element to avoid reflections), is absolutely famous and sought after in the late 19th century and even more today. It was the flagship lens for Jamins workshop in the early 1850ies and 1860ies in Paris. It offered better optical quality then most of his rivals, but also a possibility to it as a portrait (portrait mode) lens and also as a landscape lens (paysage). Even though its a a petzval design, you will see a slight difference to other portrait petzvals from that time. The Cone Centralisateur lenses have this cenrtain 'something' to their image, which is hard to grasp, but many people are looking for.

The engraving reads:

'JAMIN B te S.G.D.C. - r Chapon 14 Paris'

The Serial reads 'No. 1951' which makes it a really really early lens which was made around 1857-58!

Condition: This brass beauty comes in a great condition! The brass shows only light wear and still a warm patina, the rack & pinion mechanism seems complete, though not really working. The glass is in a good condition mostly, there are quite some cleaning marks here and there, which wont affect the image quality. The lens shows now haze or fungus and performs very sharp on the groundglass.

With its fast open aperture of F4.5 and a focal lengh of 180mm (or almost 8"), this lens will work anywhere from 4x5 to 5x7 formats.


In landscape mode it will have an estimated focal lenght of 360mm, covering huge ULF formats like 10" x 12" !

It comes with a fitting flange and the original brass Lenscap!



height: 11cm
width: 6cm
weight: 350gr

Insured and tracked shipping cost:

Germany - 20 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)

** 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.